Venezuela's Vice-President Says U.S. Is "Out Of Control"

Venezuela’s Vice-President Says U.S. is “Out of Control”

Thursday, Mar 03, 2005

By: Gregory Wilpert – Venezuelanalysis.com

Caracas, Venezuela, March 3, 2005—The U.S. government “is completely out of control with regard to Venezuela,” said Venezuela’s Vice-President José Vicente Rangel today, in response to the latest statements by State Department Sub-Secretary for the Western Hemisphere, Roger Noriega. Noriega, during a U.S. Senate Committee hearing had said that the Bush administration would launch a campaign to “increase awareness among Venezuela’s neighbors of President Chavez’s destabilizing acts with the expectation that they will join us in defending regional stability, security, and prosperity.”

In what appears to be a further escalation or at least continuation of the diplomatic confrontation between the U.S. and Venezuela, Noriega added that the Bush administration is concerned that, “Chavez’s very personal agenda may undermine democratic institutions at home and among his neighbors.” Specifically, Noriega mentioned, Chavez’s “efforts to concentrate power at home, his suspect relationship with destabilizing forces in the region, and his plans for arms purchases,” as the main causes for concern.

The response from the Chavez administration did not take long, especially since many Venezuelan newspapers opened their front page with Noriega’s announcement that the U.S. was engaged in a campaign to “increase awareness” about Venezuela among other Latin American countries. Vice-President Rangel said, “It is time to issue a call—if they want some sort of advice—that they reflect on this chain of stupidities which they are getting involved in.”

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=1533

buy property down there pretty cheap eh :)

oh brother

WASS

involved in".

Oops, too late. He commandeered the White House for another four years.

It has been for a few decades and is getting worse.
VIVA CHAVEZ!

At the VERY least!

Bush's travel schedule is almost completely devoted to boosting rock bottom morale these days--the military's, the CIA's, senior citizens' et al.

Chimpy is the most depressing "leader" the US has ever had the misfortune to suffer through. He should be working in intensive care or a high security prison, not the WH.

I'm no solid fan of Castro but remember several months ago when the US started a smear campaign against Cuba? 'Oh, Castro is trafficking in the sex trade (sounds of rattling swords) we gotta take him out' blah blah blah

Then Castro made a (looooooooong) speech via---> C-SPAN for all to see (lol) refuting the insane remarks of George the Vulgar AND he read snippets from that Franks book: "Bush on the couch"......too rich!

Oh, it will get worse. Much, much worse.

Cluck, cluck ...

Notice these statements:

"destabilizing acts"
"Chavez personal agenda may undermine democratic institutions at home and among his neighbors"
"efforts to concentrate power at home, his suspect relationship with destabilizing forces in the region, and his plans for arms purchases"

I've finally learned how to interpret their stuff. I know this administration's rhetoric. It's also easy to see through what they're worried about.

"destabilizing acts" = we're going to go in there and destabilize Venezuela.
"undermine democratic institutions" = we're going to undermine Venezuela's democratically elected government.
"and his plans for arms purchases" = now we're worried. We don't like the fact that Chavez is buying lots of weapons to defend himself.

<clips>

Venezuela and Latin America: Ready to Rumble

It happened before US intervention in Central America in the 1980’s; it happened before the invasion of Panama in 1989; it happened before the invasion of Iraq in 2002-2003; it is happening now in Venezuela. It’s a proven fact. Every time the US government has gone for another government, the big media outlets begin to “bombard” the leaders, followers, governments, and the President they want out of power with lies and unsupported arguments. It seems that the State Department has the power to impose its plans on the main TV stations and news papers. Maybe it is because politicians in the US, members of Congress, and members of the executive power are mostly millionaires and have close connections with the owners of the TV channels and papers. So the USA has two governments, the political and the mediatic government. Right now Venezuela is under the open aggression of the most important newspapers and influential TV stations of the US. President Chávez is presented as a tyrant who is concentrating all the public branches of the State, an elected President who has used his popularity to avoid the rule of law, restrict freedom of speech, press, and to repress the opposition’s demonstrations.

The Bush administration sponsored the Venezuelan opposition “leaders” that organized the coup and the illegal oil strike of 2002-2003. The opposition used the money of US citizens to try to oust President Chávez by all conceivable means, constitutional and unconstitutional, but their effort was useless. All they did was lose, and the government got stronger and gained even more legitimacy, wining the recall referendum in 2004. US dollars and support were insufficient to disrupt the close relationship between the Bolivarian government and the Venezuelan people. Sorry President Bush, but what you did had excellent results for President Chávez.

Today, when the opposition has practically disappeared, not because of Chavez, but because of its flagrant incapacity to understand the real needs and codes of the poor, of the majority of Venezuelans, the US administration is developing a hemispheric campaign to try to distort the truth about Venezuelan democracy and its projection in the rest of the Latin American continent. The U.S. will fail once again, because all the governments and Presidents of the region know exactly what is going on in Venezuela. Rice and Noriega will try to pressure their commercial partners in the region, but the governments will be unwilling to judge and isolate Venezuela, not only because they know the truth, but also because the people of Latin America sympathize with President Chávez and the Bolivarian Revolution. The people of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, Mexico, Ecuador, etc., will not let their governments damage a political process that they look to with a spirit of hope. Most of the Presidents of the region are following in Chavez’s steps, maybe not with the same language, but with the same objective: independence from imperialistic U.S. policies.

Without a strong political opposition in Venezuela, the international strategy of isolation is clear. If this fails, which it will, they will seek more direct means and we can’t dismiss the possibility of US intentions to invade Venezuela. But if Iraq turned out to be a very difficult task, if they dare to invade any Latin American country, especially Venezuela, the world will witness the largest and longest resistance ever, and the US will never attain its goal. Another probable strategy is what the US rulers believe would be to pull the plant out at its roots, that is to say, assassinating President Chávez. They would probably think that if Chávez dies the changes in South America will stop. They are so profoundly wrong—that would only deepen the roots and would dangerously accelerate the whole process, much like the national opposition’s failure radicalized the Bolivarian Revolution.

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/articles.php?artno=1389

http://www.energybulletin.net/3779.html

Published on 28 Dec 2004 by Venezuelanalysis,com. Archived on 28 Dec 2004.
Venezuela Offers China Greater Access to Oil to Reduce Dependency on US Market
by Gregory Wilpert

President Chavez said that Venezuela will offer China greater access to Venezuelan resources, such as oil, natural gas, and related products, in an effort to reduce Venezuelan dependency on the U.S. market.

Chavez made the announcement during a state visit to China, which he and various ministers of his are visiting over the Christmas holidays. Chavez said, “Venezuela brings a great energy offer to China because China has turned into the second largest importer of energy in the world.”

Among the offers that Venezuela is making to China is the permission for Chinese companies that produce crude oil to also extract gas that is related to this crude. China has been engaged in joint ventures in Venezuela for many years already. This gas would not be used for export, though, but to supply the energy needs of Venezuelan industries in Guyana, which are mostly mining and metal ore processing.

Venezuela and China will also sign an agreement to continue Orimulsion production in Venezuela. Orimulsion is a product of extra-heavy crude oil, whose production process is patented by Venezuela and which can be used in some Chinese refineries for the production of fuel.

Nice to see that Venezuela's newspapers at least print the truth.

and of course Petrosur, which Chavez spoke about yesterday at the inauguraton in Montevideo:

...""Petrosur is moving forward: a company that is national, South American and powerful with government to government sales which can save us 15% of cost because it will eliminate middlemen”, emphasized Mr. Chavez who has repeatedly expressed his interest in diversifying markets for Venezuelan crude, preferably to Latin America and China. "Venezuela has spent 100 years selling oil to the north, but never to the south, and that is now going to change"."



http://www.mercopress.com/Detalle.asp?NUM=5198&Palabra=venezuela

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?storyID=7783368&type=businessNews

http://en.rian.ru/rian/index.cfm?prd_id=160&msg_id=5448411&startrow=1&date=2005-03-02&do_alert=0

Our prices are crrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaazyyyyyyyy!!

If Bush scares folk enough they will all drop what they are doing (minding their own business) and pay attention to him. Then they can mezzmerise us all at once!

The only country willing to do so! Go Venezuela!

He can't buy limiting himself to a U.S. president.

Chavez was democratically elected. Bush doesn't want you to realize that.

<snip>from the article

During the testimony at the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Noreiga also said that the Bush administration would continue to support “democratic elements” in Venezuela, so that these “can continue to maintain the political space to which they are entitled.”
</snip>

That quote is absolutely incredible. I am at a loss for words. The Bush administration is totally disrespectul of the fact that the majority of Venezuelans have voted for Chavez and believe as he does that the natural resources of the country belong to the citizens, not to multinational companies who come in to rape and pillage the environment and leave poverty and environmental devastation in their wake.

This HAS to get the light of day shed upon it by the mainstream media. Please write to your papers, your senators, your congresspeople....

b_b

Any nation with a genuine, democratically elected leader who dares to try to correct the ills of society instead of sucking up to the corporatists winds up in this administration's crosshairs.

Of course they do the same to our own Dems on the Hill.

why bush is out to destroy Social Security. He want's one tiny ruling elite and a bunch of powerless peasants.

were the elected government in Nicaragua, in an election monitored by the Europeans and found to be free and fair.

But our right wing friends sat out the election, with our blessing, and turned to armed insurrection.

The Contras were, by the post-9/11 definition terrorists. And the Reagan Administration (in collusion with Iran for example) was a state sponsor of terrorism.

And they will do it again.

Coz they're gonna be massively disappointed.

It now looks like a lot of countries would rather sell their oil to China and India. I'm sure that has nothing to do with the policies of Numero Uno Consumer USA.


Cher

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has renewed a threat to halt oil supplies to the United States if Washington hurts the Latin American country. Relations between Washington and Venezuela - which exports the bulk of its oil to the US - have been badly strained since Chavez last month accused Washington of plotting to have him assassinated.

"If there is any aggression, there will be no oil," Chavez, who is in New Delhi on a four-day visit, was quoted by the Press Trust of India as saying on Friday.
"We want to supply oil to the US. We're not going to avoid this supply of oil unless US government gets a little bit crazy and tries to hurt us," he said after a ceremonial welcome at the Indian president's palace.

Asked whether the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec), of which Venezuela is a member, will increase output to cool near-record prices, Chavez said on Friday that the cartel was "producing enough". " increasing price of oil has nothing to do with Opec. It is the structure of the market," he said, adding Opec was evaluating the situation. Chavez has signed oil deals with various countries including China since last year and is due to approve an energy agreement intended to enhance cooperation with India during his visit.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/331BCCFD-3564-4635-A72A-F9ECC14EA4D5.htm

may undermine democratic institutions at home and among his neighbors.” Specifically, Noriega mentioned, Chavez’s “efforts to concentrate power at home, his suspect relationship with destabilizing forces in the region, and his plans for arms purchases,” as the main causes for concern.

Buying Russian and Brazilian weapons is of course the first step in undermining democratic institutions at home and among ones neighbours. Only democratically manufactured weapons from Raytheon and Lockheed Martin are compatible with democratic institutions. This should be self-evident, really.