POLITICS: Hugo Chavez Wins

Jimmy Carter�s team as well as the Organization of American States (OAS) are two of the international organizations observing the Venezuelan election who have endorsed official results showing Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez won Sunday's vote to remain in office. The international community will likely take the election and the result as valid. The opposition is attempting to claim massive fraud.



It seems clear to me that the class conflict going on in Venezuela at the present time is being fueled by the upper class. They are unhappy with Chavez� policies on oil and are stirring up conflict. They don�t like him bartering oil to Cuba in return for medical technology as it circumvents the mighty petrodollar. They are unhappy that he raised the tax on oil exports to a measly 15% to pay for social programs. The oil belongs to them why should they not benefit from it?

Venezuela has been receiving about half of its revenues from the state owned Petr�leos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA).(3) So providing more for the country's poor multitudes necessarily meant maximizing the gains from Venezuela's rich national resource, oil. This entailed altering the 60-year-old agreement with foreign oil companies "that charges them as little as one percent in royalties," plus handing them huge tax breaks, according to the London Guardian (4) The giant transnational oil corporations and business interests, coveting all that black gold, had far different plans. Not surprisingly, the PDVSA figured heavily in all the intrigue and machinations leading to the coup. "Opposition business leaders have said openly that they want to depose Ch�vez "so they can boost oil production or even privatize the country's cash cow [PDVSA]....they have been enraged ...over Ch�vez's efforts to take resources from the rich to aid the poor, who represent 80 percent of the population," says Newsday writer, Letta Tayler.(5)

I wonder how the Bush Administration will react to this referendum?

For some background on the oily Bush Administration�s role see Coup-making in Venezuela: the Bush and oil factors.

[edit on 8-16-2004 by Valhall]

Well it did not take time.

The US is taking the side of the opposition as reported by lookheed here: www.abovetopsecret.com...

I'm not surprised.

Give this Chavez guy a couple of years more and you will find a 2nd Cuba. Good luck there!

Incredible, Venezuela has the resources to become world�s richest and wealthiest country. But unfortunately not the right people/mentality.