Hugo Chavez says he won’t be bullied, said Marianna Parraga in Caracas’ El Universal. The Venezuelan president announced this week that if ExxonMobil seizes Venezuelan assets, he will order a halt to all oil exports to the United States. His threat was a reaction to British and Dutch court rulings last week that froze $12 billion in Venezuelan assets to guarantee compensation to ExxonMobil. When Chavez nationalized the oil fields last summer, most international companies cut deals with the state. Exxon, though, chose to abandon its fields—worth at least $1.5 billion—and file suit against Venezuela. But Chavez says he will not be swayed by the “imperialist bandits, white-collar thieves, and corrupters of governments” that control Exxon. “If the economic war against Venezuela continues,” he warned, “oil prices will reach $200 per barrel, and other countries will join us in the economic war against the United States.”
If only that were true, said Teodoro Petkoff in the Caracas Tal Cual. Unfortunately, Venezuela has little clout with other countries right now. Even “our one relatively serious ally, Cuba,” has been distancing itself from us lately. It’s too bad, because for once, Chavez’s bombastic rhetoric against the U.S. is entirely appropriate. Exxon, the heir to the notorious Standard Oil Company, really is an evil corporation, its profits “soaked in blood.” Exxon refused to wait for the International Arbitration Commission to rule on the proper amount of compensation for its oil fields—it insisted on freezing Venezuelan assets worth nearly 10 times more than those fields. And it was able to browbeat British and Dutch courts into doing its bidding. Apparently, little has changed since the days when “a gringo president,” Teddy Roosevelt, sent gunboats to protect American oil interests. The only difference is, “now the Yankees use their puppet global financial institutions.” Chavez was right: “The U.S. is an empire. And it is striking back.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Another messaging app used by the White House is in hot waterThe Explainer TeleMessage was seen being used by former National Security Adviser Mike Waltz
-
AI hallucinations are getting worseIn the Spotlight And no one knows why it is happening
-
Social media: How ‘content’ replaced friendshipFeature Facebook has shifted from connecting with friends to competing with entertainment companies
-
No equipment for Afghanistanfeature The U.S. has reportedly decided to hand over to Pakistan some $7 billion worth of American military hardware currently in Afghanistan.
-
How they see us: Crudely insulting our allies
feature Well, at least we know now what the Americans really think of us.
-
Spied-upon Germans are not mollified
feature In the wake of revelations last year about the NSA's spying activities, relations between Germany and the U.S. have been at an all-time low.
-
Is a deal with the U.S. in Iran’s interest?
feature The “unprecedented enthusiasm” of Western diplomats after the talks in Geneva suggests they received unexpected concessions from the Iranians.
-
How they see us: Sowing chaos in Libya
feature The kidnapping of Abu Anas al-Libi is an outrage committed against Libyan sovereignty—and it will have repercussions.
-
Europe is complicit in spying
feature It’s not just the Americans who have developed a gigantic spying apparatus.
-
Protecting Snowden
feature American whistle-blower Edward Snowden has proved a master spy with his “meticulously timed operation.”
-
Listening in on Europeans
feature Europeans are apoplectic over the U.S. National Security Agency's massive PRISM surveillance program.