New oil finds increase danger to Chavez

It’s not hard to figure out what is happening in Venezuela. Under the government of Hugo Chavez, the resources of this oil-rich country are going to help the people for the first time. Oil money is paying for housing, decent food, education and health care.

Chavez has the support of at least 70 percent of the people in polls and elections. Another election is coming up in August and he is sure to win.

But a parade celebrating Venezuela’s independence on June 24 had to be rerouted to a military base because of credible threats to Chavez’s life, security forces said.

Who would want to kill a popular figure associated with so much positive changes for the majority of the people?

BusinessWeek Online pointed out on June 21 that Venezuela has just reported significant new oil finds in the western Lake Maracaibo region. It added that Venezuela has the world’s greatest oil reserves outside the Middle East.

When a business magazine makes a statement like that, its savvy readers perk up their ears. They look at everything that transpires between that country and the U.S. government in terms of whether or not it enhances the possibility that the immense profits that could be made from the oil might come their way.

Bloomberg.com is also very concerned about Venezuela. Why? Because the National Assembly is discussing requested legislation that would let the government take some of the money that Venezuela has in reserve, because of the current high price for its oil, and spend it on development projects. That sounds good, right?

Not to the financiers. “The legislation would leave the South American country, the world’s fifth-biggest oil exporter, with less reserves to defend the value of its currency and to make foreign debt payments,” says Bloomberg.

The financial news service quotes Richard Francis, an analyst with Stan dard & Poor’s in New York. “It’s unorthodox to just take reserves out of the central bank,” Francis said. “If you just look at some of the indicators, Venezuela would tend to be rated higher but the political risk and unorthodox economic policies keep it at a relatively low rating.”

So countries that spend their reserves on “unorthodox” things like services for the people get low bond ratings, which means they have to pay a higher interest rate in world markets.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recently met with the Venezuelan “opposition” to encourage them. Why should a top representative of a powerful country like the U.S. bother with a political group that has no chance of getting elected? What other scenarios were behind the purpose of that meeting?

Were promises of money and even more lethal support given to those who want to supplant Chavez? And with Chavez so popular among the masses, how could the opposition expect to ever get into power? Unless something happened to Chavez and his coalition of progressive forces were overthrown. And that’s exactly what happened in Chile in 1973, when President Salvador Allende was assassinated with the blessings of Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and the U.S. oil establishment he really worked for.

The U.S. has specially trained organizations to do exactly that. It has tried for over 40 years to assassinate the revolutionary leader of Cuba, Fidel Castro. It kidnapped the popular president of Haiti, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, last year and sent him into exile. It made sure Patrice Lumumba, the leader of the Congo independence movement in the early 1960s, was assassinated and his jailer, Gen. Mobutu, elevated to head of state.

So Venezuelans in charge of the president’s security have good reason to be very cautious and protect Chavez from whatever plots may exist against him. They know these can come not just from some disgruntled Venezuelans unhappy about land reform or their loss of the economic privilege and prestige, but from the ruthless professionals working for the world’s most desperate imperialist ruling class.