US probe into Venezuela's oil supply threat 'absurd'

[Judi Lynn]

US probe into Venezuela's oil supply threat 'absurd'
By Andy Webb-Vidal in Caracas

Published: July 11 2006 03:00 | Last updated: July 11 2006 03:00

Venezuela has rejected as "absurd" a recent US congressional investigation that warned of the risks posed by President Hugo Chávez's threats to "cut off" oil supplies to America.

Bernardo Alvarez, Venezuela's ambassador to the US, dismissed the findings of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in a letter to Richard Lugar, Republican chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee, on Friday. Mr Alvar­ez'sletter, a copy of which was obtained by the FT, is the first official response to the report published last month - 18 months after it was commissioned by Mr Lugar.

Venezuela supplies 1.5m barrels of oil a day to the US. Mr Chávez has threatened to "cut off" those exports if Washington continues, as he alleges, to "plot" his overthrow.

US officials say Mr Chávez is using Venezuela's oil revenues to undermine democracy in Latin America but Venezuela says it is merely helping communities impoverished by US-backed economic policies
(snip/...)

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/6274400a-1079-11db-8eec-0000779e2340,_i_rssPage=8fa2c9cc-2f77-11da-8b51-00000e2511c8.html

[Jackpine Radical]

1. I go Hugo.

With apologies to Walt Kelly. (And to Pogo Possum, Albert Alligator, Howland Owl, Churchy laFemme & the rest of the gang.)

Edited to add:


For those too young to remember...

[Judi Lynn]

2. I, too, go Hugo! n/t

[Webster Green]

3. Our "leaders" need to stop provoking Chavez....

...portraying him as an evil dictator and all that crap.

Damn, I wish we could have a real president, like Al Gore for example.

[IDemo]

4. Venezuela and Canada both have vast tar reserves

which will require enormous natural gas energy reserves to extract and refine into Hummer fuel. Along with the continued injection of CO2 into the global warming engine.