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Venezuela government plan to import oil products raises doubts - 4-5 days of oil left*** AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's plan to import gasoline and other refined products to offset a shortage as a nationwide strike enters its third week has many flaws and simply won't work, industry observers and analysts said Monday. The financial and logistical risks of importing refined product in a country almost entirely equipped for exports while ports and shipping crews are almost all on strike are just too high, they say.

"I can't think of a single shipping company in the world that is prepared to take care of a tanker and have it unloaded in a port that is declared unsafe," said Jose Toro Hardy, a former director at state-owned oil monopoly Petroleos de Venezuela SA and now a private oil consultant. Currently, only one small refinery is producing, but running at a meager rate of 80,000 barrels a day. Venezuela needs around 400,000 barrels a day to satisfy its domestic needs.***

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Chavez Blocking Vote on His Rule *** CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - During his campaign to dismantle a corrupt political system, Hugo Chavez's favorite tool was a popular referendum. Now, the president is infuriating opponents by snubbing a petition to hold a referendum on his rule. The drive for signatures gathered force at an eastern Caracas plaza that has been occupied for seven days by more than 100 dissident military officers and thousands of civilians demanding Chavez's ouster.

Opposition political parties say more than 1.2 million people, or 10 percent of registered voters, have signed - the number required by Venezuela's constitution to petition for a referendum on "matters of national importance." They plan to deliver the signatures next week, and want the vote held in December. Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel rebuffed the petition, insisting Monday "we can easily get 10, 15, 20 percent of the people to say that they are against the referendum."

Critics say that would be taking a page out the playbook of Chavez's good friend, Fidel Castro, who scorned a petitioning drive to hold a referendum for more civil liberties in Cuba earlier this year. Instead, Castro supported a counter-petition for a constitutional reform declaring the island's socialist system untouchable. Castro's government later claimed that 8.1 million of Cuba's 8.2 million eligible voters signed the "socialism forever" petition - a typically resounding return of 98.7 percent in favor. ***

Venezuela Election Body Agrees to Chavez Referendum *** CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuela's election authorities agreed early on Thursday to hold a nonbinding referendum in February demanded by the opposition on whether President Hugo Chavez should resign, an option dismissed by the populist leader who refuses to step down. The consultative vote, scheduled for Feb. 2, would not legally force Chavez from office. But his foes believe a decisive rejection would deliver a political defeat that could press the president into resigning and trigger elections in the world's fifth-largest oil exporter. Alfredo Avella, president of the National Electoral Council, said the institution that oversees elections and polls agreed to stage the popular referendum on the question of whether Chavez should resign immediately from office. ***

Venezuela Court Halts Vote on Chavez - Venezuelan President's Approval Below 30 Percent *** CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Venezuela's Supreme Court put the brakes on opposition efforts to force a non-binding referendum on President Hugo Chavez's presidency, quashing a decision hours earlier by the electoral council to conduct the vote. The back-to-back decisions on Thursday threw Venezuela into political turmoil. Foes and supporters of Chavez held rival demonstrations, with police keeping them apart. Opposition leaders threatened a general strike on Monday to press for the non-binding vote on whether the president should resign. police keeping them apart. Opposition leaders threatened a general strike on Monday to press for the non-binding vote on whether the president should resign. ***

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Well, if his illegal acts are not intentional, does that mean they are accidental or involuntary?

>Chavez's critics blame his left-leaning policies for country's deepening economic crisis ...

Venezuela
is worth watching for at least
two reasons. It is

the only OPEC
representative in the
Americas. And

their national oil
company is the parent
of CITGO Petrol.

It's hard to believe
there's not more than meets the eye
in their politics.

Interesting that Chavez's defenders claim that he was democratically elected and he is following the Venezuelan Constitution.

Bottom line is Two-Bit Dictator cannot follow his own Constitution, the Constitution he wrote and rammed through his Constitutional Assembly.

The Two-Bit Dictator is even firing Supreme Court Justices after stacking the Court with his own Justices.

Two-Bit Dictator has alienated even his own hand-picked Judges and his own hand-picked military officials.

Somebody should ask Chavez to write the sequel to "How to Make Enemies and Alienate People."