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To: FJB who wrote (373515)	7/25/2010 6:41:51 PM
From: FJB	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793912

Chavez warns of US oil cutoff in Colombia dispute Chavez threatens to suspend US oil sales if Venezuela attacked by neighboring Colombia Ian James, Associated Press Writer, On Sunday July 25, 2010, 5:52 pm CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- President Hugo Chavez threatened on Sunday to cut off oil sales to the United States if Venezuela is attacked by its U.S.-allied neighbor Colombia in a dispute over allegations Venezuela gives haven to Colombian rebels. Chavez made his warning in an outdoor speech to thousands of supporters, saying: "If there is any armed aggression against Venezuela from Colombian territory or anywhere else supported by the Yankee empire, we ... would suspend shipments of oil to the United States!" "We wouldn't send another drop of oil to its refineries, not a single drop more!" Chavez shouted, adding that the United States is "the big one to blame for all the tension in this part of the world." If actually carried out, such a threat would be titanic economic blow for Chavez's government, which depends heavily on oil sales. The U.S. is the top buyer of oil from Venezuela, which is the United States' fifth biggest foreign supplier. But Colombia has not threatened military action, and it's likely Chavez made the warning in part to put Washington and Bogota on notice that he will not stand for a more aggressive international campaign to denounce allegations that leftist Colombian rebels are finding refuge in Venezuela. Chavez cut off diplomatic relations with Colombia on Thursday after outgoing President Alvaro Uribe's government presented photos, videos and maps of what it said were Colombian rebel camps inside Venezuela. Chavez called it an attempt to smear his government and said Uribe could be trying to lay the groundwork for an armed conflict. In 2008, Chavez also warned of a possible war with Colombia after its military carried out a cross-border raid on a rebel camp in Ecuador that killed a guerrilla leader, Raul Reyes. Chavez on Sunday appeared to be giving a new warning that he wouldn't tolerate anything similar in Venezuelan territory. "Chavez's threat to halt oil sales if attacked by Colombia is credible in my view," said Adam Isacson, an analyst at the Washington Office on Latin America. While saying Chavez's threat could be intended as a deterrent against what he sees as a menace, Isacson added that it could also be a tactic to rally supporters and distract from Venezuela's problems like high inflation and crime two months ahead of key legislative elections. "Troubles with Colombia give Chavez the chance to rally his base, and get out their vote, by playing the patriotism card," Isacson said. The Colombian government denies seeking a military conflict. It says it went to the Organization of American States last week to present evidence about the rebels' presence in Venezuela because Chavez's government has not addressed the situation. Chavez also said Sunday that he had canceled a trip to Cuba due to the tensions with Colombia. He said he believes that based on his latest intelligence -- which he did not reveal -- that "the possibility of an armed aggression against Venezuelan territory" from Colombia is now more likely than in the past. He said separately in a newspaper column, however, that he will wait to see if Colombian President-elect Juan Manuel Santos, who takes office next month, expresses what Chavez deems a genuine willingness to ease the diplomatic conflict. "We have to receive clear and unequivocal signals that there is a real political will in the new Colombian government to take up the path of dialogue again, without tricks," Chavez wrote. Uribe has frequently feuded with the socialist Chavez, and Colombian officials have long complained, mostly in private, that Venezuela has harbored leaders of its two main leftist rebel groups. Santos, however, has stressed the importance of mending trade relations with Venezuela that overwhelmingly benefit Colombia's food producers. And Chavez has raised the possibility that relations could be restored under Santos. Trade between Venezuela and Colombia has fallen about 70 percent since Chavez froze relations a year ago in response to Colombia's decision to grant the U.S. military expanded access to its military bases. "The likely conclusion for now is that Santos will say something conciliatory around the time of his inauguration, Chavez will respond in kind, and relations will improve for a while," Isacson said. But he said Colombia's concerns about rebels hiding out in Venezuela are likely to continue and could flare up again. "It's dangerous because even a misunderstanding or minor incident at the border could get out of hand, escalating and spreading to other parts of the border," Isacson said. Chavez has often accused Washington of trying to unseat him since he survived a short-lived 2002 coup, and has emphasized that the U.S. threat could come through Colombia. Chavez recalled the Iraq war on Sunday, saying that "the Yankee empire is an expert at inventing anything" to topple a government it opposes. U.S. officials have repeatedly denied Chavez's accusations of supporting plots against him, and have said Colombia is raising legitimate concerns to which Venezuela should respond.

To: FJB who wrote (373515)	9/4/2010 3:03:21 PM
From: FJB	1 Recommendation Respond to of 793912

Venezuela introduces Cuba-like food card Posted on Fri, Sep. 03, 2010 BY ANTONIO MARIA DELGADO Presented by President Hugo Chávez as an instrument to make shopping for groceries easier, the ``Good Life Card'' is making various segments of the population wary because they see it as a furtive attempt to introduce a rationing card similar to the one in Cuba. The measure could easily become a mechanism to control the population, according to civil society groups. ``We see that in short-term this could become a rationing card probably similar to the one used in Cuba,'' Roberto León Parilli, president of the National Association of Users and Consumers, told El Nuevo Herald. ``It would use more advanced technological means [than those used in Cuba], but when they tell you where to buy and what the limits of what you can buy are, they are conditioning your purchases.'' Chávez said Tuesday that the card could be used to buy groceries at the government chain of markets and supplies. ``I have called it a Good Life Card so far,'' Chávez said in a brief statement made on the government television channel. ``It's a card for you to purchase what you are going to take and they keep deducting. It's to buy what you need, not to promote communism, but to buy what just what you need.'' Former director of Venezuela's Central Bank, Domingo Maza Zavala, said this could become a rationing card that would limit your purchases in light of the country's recurring problems with supplies. ``If the intention is to beat inflation, they should find a good source of supply for the entire market and not only for centers that are part of social chains,'' he said. ``To do that, you need to encourage local production with the help of the private sector, since they cannot do it by themselves. The government cannot become the ultimate food distributor.'' Humberto Ortega Díaz, minister for public banking and president of the Venezuelan Bank, minimized such criticism and said that all this measure is trying to do is to improve service at the government supply chains. ``Why can't our Bicentennial chain use a card to make it easier for customers to buy their groceries?'' the minister said in an interview broadcast on a government channel. He said that this type of initiative has been used by private commercial entities. Yet, critics pointed out that the measure could turn out not as innocent as the minister makes it to be, and they insist that the government control over the supply chain is too broad and depends greatly on imports the government authorizes through its currency exchange system. In theory, the government could begin to favor the import of products to be sold through the government chains and have more control over the type of products purchased and the people buying them. Jaime Suchlicki, director of the University of Miami's Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies, said that Venezuela's current problems of scarce supplies are very similar to those Cuba faced when Fidel Castro introduced the rationing card. ``The card emerged when goods began to become scarce,'' Suchlicki said. ``The government had seized many companies that did not work because the government managed them poorly. Then they decided to distribute groceries through those cards.'' And although the cards were introduced as a mechanism to deal with scarcities, Suchlicki said, they later became an instrument of control. ``People depended on the government to eat, and nothing gives you more power than having people depend on you to get their food quota,'' he said. Read more: miamiherald.com