Willar
Contributor
CITGO Petroleum is wholly owned by PDVSA, the national oil company of Venezuela which is controlled by the government. When Chavez took over he installed his army and political allies into running PDVSA. All have made a mess of things because they know nothing of running an oil company. Many US companies (ConocoPhillips, Exxon-Mobil, etc) have pumped big money into Ven. and now Chavez is suddenly canceling and changing contracts. He need more money since the oil company is so poorly run by his friends and production has fallen off dur to their incompetence.
Chavez continues to blame the USA and Bush for his problems and is negotiating with the Chinese to buy all Ven. oil because he thinks he can hurt the USA by not selling oil to us. What a joke. If China buys all his oil then we'll just buy oil from other countries who formerly sold to China and we'll still have plenty.
Also, Chavez is demanding the USA turn over a Ven. fugitive (based on trumped-up charges) and we are refusing because he won't agree to follow international protocol and laws. I wouldn't be surprised if they start grabbing US citizens for hostages.
The anti-USA propaganda being spread across Ven. is terrible. I wouldn't even think of stepping foot in that country. We barely have diplomatic relations their so if you get in trouble with the law you are on your own.
According to our State Department:
"Sporadic incidents of harassment and intimidation of U.S. citizens by pro-government groups, Venezuelan airport authorities and some segments of the police have been reported over the past few years. Additionally, anti-American sentiment, expressed in graffiti, harsh political rhetoric, newspaper advertisements and rally pamphlets, exists in some segments of Venezuelan society."
Read more here:
http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1059.html
Chavez continues to blame the USA and Bush for his problems and is negotiating with the Chinese to buy all Ven. oil because he thinks he can hurt the USA by not selling oil to us. What a joke. If China buys all his oil then we'll just buy oil from other countries who formerly sold to China and we'll still have plenty.
Also, Chavez is demanding the USA turn over a Ven. fugitive (based on trumped-up charges) and we are refusing because he won't agree to follow international protocol and laws. I wouldn't be surprised if they start grabbing US citizens for hostages.
The anti-USA propaganda being spread across Ven. is terrible. I wouldn't even think of stepping foot in that country. We barely have diplomatic relations their so if you get in trouble with the law you are on your own.
According to our State Department:
"Sporadic incidents of harassment and intimidation of U.S. citizens by pro-government groups, Venezuelan airport authorities and some segments of the police have been reported over the past few years. Additionally, anti-American sentiment, expressed in graffiti, harsh political rhetoric, newspaper advertisements and rally pamphlets, exists in some segments of Venezuelan society."
Read more here:
http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1059.html