Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Gold/Mining/Energy : Strictly: Drilling and oil-field services -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Platter who wrote (32740)	12/11/1998 7:46:00 AM
From: Tomas	Respond to of 95453

"Venezuela is the single largest supplier of U.S. oil, selling 1.36 million barrels a day, or 17 percent of the total American consumption needs. It also has the largest petroleum reserves outside the Middle East, making stability in Venezuela a strategic U.S. interest." A Cloud Over U.S.-Venezuela Relations Washington Post, Thursday, December 10 By Douglas Farah WASHINGTON - The Clinton administration, in the awkward position of supporting an elected head of state in Venezuela who has shown little commitment to democracy and free markets, is warning President-elect Hugo Chavez that relations will sour if he implements promised radical political or economic measures, U.S. officials said. In a letter Monday congratulating Mr. Chavez, a populist who led a failed military coup in 1992, President Bill Clinton acknowledged that the political and economic reforms Mr. Chavez promised during his campaign ''will be difficult,'' but expressed confidence that the challenges ''can be dealt with in a democratic manner,'' according to a U.S. official familiar with the letter. While publicly pledging to work closely with Mr. Chavez, senior U.S. officials said they had laid out specific concerns to the incoming administration. They said they had warned Mr. Chavez and his advisers that any breakdown in democratic rule or the adoption of radical economic measures would quickly cause a U.S. reassessment of a traditionally strong relationship. At the same time, however, U.S. officials acknowledge that Mr. Chavez won 57 percent of the vote by promising radical change in a country of great oil wealth but also of widespread official corruption. ''Chavez was elected to bring change in a country where 50 percent of the people live in poverty, where the governing elites haven't done squat, and the change is appropriate,'' a U.S. official said. ''We understand that. Our concern is that the change be carried out in a democratic, constitutional manner.'' Venezuela is the single largest supplier of U.S. oil, selling 1.36 million barrels a day, or 17 percent of the total American consumption needs. It also has the largest petroleum reserves outside the Middle East and the fourth-largest economy in Latin America, making stability in Venezuela a strategic U.S. interest, officials said. One key concern among U.S. officials is whether Mr. Chavez will carry out a campaign promise to dissolve congress and replace it with a constitutional assembly made up largely of his supporters. Several U.S. administration officials said they feared Mr. Chavez would attempt to use his broad support for fighting corruption to assume near dictatorial powers, curtailing freedom of expression and the independence of the courts, as President Alberto Fujimori of Peru did in a ''self-coup'' in 1992. ''Fundamental to our policy is that the whole relationship must be based on a mutual commitment to democracy,'' the administration official said. U.S. officials said the Clinton administration was also concerned that Mr. Chavez would honor promises to stop payments on Venezuela's $22 billion foreign debt, and reverse key privatization initiatives in the state's petroleum industry. In addition to driving foreign investment from Venezuela, officials fear, such moves could have repercussions across Latin America. U.S. officials admit they know little about Mr. Chavez or what he will do. Because of his staunchly anti-American rhetoric and the U.S. condemnation of his coup attempt, U.S. officials have had little contact with him until recent weeks, when it became clear he would win the elections. Mr. Chavez was jailed for two years after the coup attempt, before being pardoned by his predecessor, Rafael Caldera. He was denied a U.S. visa when he applied to enter the country in 1996. To avoid further inflaming relations, U.S. officials have made conciliatory statements in recent days and played down the issue of Mr. Chavez's not being granted a U.S. visa. A State Department spokesman, James Foley, said the United States was ''prepared to take the necessary steps to address any visa request'' by Mr. Chavez, , noting that "heads of state normally receive a diplomatic visa to visit the United States."