Posted on 04/08/2002 4:14:23 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
CARACAS, Venezuela -- President Hugo Chavez announced the dismissal Sunday of seven executives who have led monthlong strikes and protests against government-appointed leadership at the state-owned oil monopoly.
Twelve other executives have been sent into early retirement, Chavez added. He warned that any other workers who lead protests will be fired.
The decision is likely to exacerbate a conflict that has affected production at South America's largest oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela, or PDVSA. The country's largest workers' union warned that it might prolong a one-day nationwide, general strike set for Tuesday in protest of the firings.
Fedecamaras, the country's largest business association, said its members would join the strike. It will be the second time in Chavez's 3-year-old presidency that union workers and business leaders joined to paralyze the country.
Undeterred by the firings,PDVSA employees staged a noisy protest outside the corporation's Caracas headquarters, chanting "not one step back" and banging pots and pans.
"Our patience in this conflict has been obvious," Chavez said in his weekly radio show. "We have been soft. That has been our error. They have crossed the line."
"Tomorrow there may be more" firings, he added.
Executives Horacio Medina, Juan Fernandez, Eddy Ramirez, Gonzalo Feijoo, Alfredo Gomez, Carmen Elisa Hernandez and Edgar Quijano were fired. Chavez accused the protesters of trying to "sabotage" Venezuela's oil industry and vowed that his efforts to reform PDVSA would continue.
Last week, managers at Petroleos de Venezuela walked off the job to protest Chavez's attempts to assert control over the company.
The strike continued Sunday with a march in Caracas. Blue-collar workers have not joined the strike, but the protesting workers managed to close two of Venezuela's five major loading terminals Friday, stranding a dozen ships waiting to load cargo.
Venezuela Oil Workers' Dispute Could Threaten Supplies for U.S.****Describing the conflict as "very worrisome," John H. Lichtblau, chairman of the Petroleum Industry Research Foundation in New York, said: "Venezuela has been a top foreign source for the United States for a long time. Potentially, this is a bigger threat for the U.S. market than disruptions in the Middle East, which are hypothetical. This isn't hypothetical."
Globaphobic Vote in Brazil could alter political map of region**** If you think that the Bush administration has problems in Latin America with the latest crises in Argentina, Colombia and Venezuela, think about what it may face if Brazil's leftist candidate Luiz Inacio ''Lula'' da Silva wins this year's presidential elections in the region's biggest country. For starters, a Brazilian move to the left could pave the way for a South American nationalist-populist bloc -- that could also include Venezuela and Argentina -- that would strongly oppose the U.S.-backed plan to create a Free Trade Area of the Americas by 2005. Conceivably, the new ''globaphobic'' bloc could strengthen ties with Cuba, and with Colombia's Marxist guerrillas.****
Chavistas: Venezuelan street toughs: Helping "revolution" or crushing dissent?****CARACAS, Venezuela - From her bed in a Caracas military hospital, the wiry, chain-smoking prisoner vowed to continue a hunger strike and risk becoming the first death in Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's "revolution." "Comandante" Lina Ron, who considers herself a modern version of "Tania," a woman who fought alongside Cuban revolutionary Ernesto Che Guevara, says she is a willing martyr for Chavez's cause. She was arrested after leading a violent pro-Chavez counter-protest against demonstrating university students. Thousands follow her lead in Venezuela and they have increasingly quashed dissent, breaking up anti-government protests, intimidating journalists and alarming the president's critics.****
Venezuela: Labor Strife of a Different Collar - Pdvsa--[Excerpt] CARACAS, Venezuela, March 18 - Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. may be state owned, but it is known internationally as efficient and well managed, even cutting edge. The company, one of the world's largest oil producers, has also long attracted the brightest minds in Venezuela to its singular task: producing the huge amounts of oil that motor this country.
Now, however, the behemoth, with $20 billion a year in oil sales and 40,000 employees, is in turmoil. Its white-collar workers are locked in a bitter feud with the government of President Hugo Chávez, whose firing of the company president last month precipitated a rousing, public quarrel that has dominated the local headlines, caused a work slowdown and threatens to spill into a full- fledged strike. Such an event would be calamitous for a country where oil accounts for 80 percent of exports, most of it bound for the United States.
"This is a tragedy," said Luis Giusti, a former company president and now senior adviser for the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "It is inconceivable that in this company people would go out and protest. They would have been fired right away. But this is a crisis situation." [End Excerpt]
I was reading about Iraq's shutdown of oil supplies (which affects the US, since all oil is really part of a global supply network) and thinking "what about those pesky Venezualans"? Well, your post answers that.
This is interesting. What if neglected South America does start behaving like an entity? And all South American resources supported that area, instead of being sold/exploited/(choose your verb} to the benefit of US/European/global economic considerations?
Right now, I feel as if the situation in Israel is under control...but this is a wild card.
Coincidence?....lot of that going on lately! (and no, I didn't know about new South American contracts)
Venezuela syncrude challenging Mideast oil in U.S.--[Excerpt] The first shipment of Sincor will go to TotalFinaElf's refinery in Port Arthur, Texas, this month. Sincor is expected to hit full production by the end of the year.
U.S. refiner Ultramar Diamond Shamrock Corp., a unit of Valero Energy Corp. has signed a three-year contract to take 45,000 bpd of the new ``Zuata Sweet'' crude to its Three Rivers refinery near Corpus Christi, Texas.
While analysts and oil companies warn that new oil terms put in place under Venezuela's new hydrocarbon's law may prevent further heavy oil investment, the Ministry of Energy and Mines said the tar belt would provide stable supply for decades.
``We have oil in the Orinoco to last for the next 35 to 40 years,'' said a Ministry spokesman. [End Excerpt]
Venezuela's Chavez says he'll declare emergency and militarize company if oil workers strike-[Excerpt] CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez is ready to declare a state of emergency if oil-workers at the nation's state-owned oil monopoly try to paralyze production.
Chavez accused opposition labor and political leaders of sowing discontent at Petroleos de Venezuela SA and said he had a contingency plan ready should workers and management go on strike. He didn't elaborate on the plan.
"If they shut down the company, we'll militarize it. I am not going to allow Petroleos de Venezuela to be shut down," Chavez said.
"It won't bother me to continue to fulfill my obligation, to sign an emergency decree. This is a company of high strategic value, and I am ready to order its intervention and throw out those who don't want to be there," he said. [End Excerpt]
Castro, Chávez Decry Inequalities, Condemn IMF [Excerpt] MONTERREY, Mexico--The world is living "a true genocide" and one cannot blame "this strategy on the poor countries. They are not the ones who conquered and pillaged entire continents over the centuries, nor did they establish colonialism, implant slavery, or create modern- day imperialism," said the Cuban leader in a speech that won enthusiastic applause from NGO delegates at the conference.
According to his colleague Chávez, the world "is not only twisted," but it is "backwards," and the leaders of the world must straighten it out, he said in his address on behalf of the Group of 77, a bloc of 133 developing countries, plus China. "In name of all the poor of the planet," the Venezuelan president called upon governments "to act, and not just speak," and urged them to save the world, which, he said, suffers a grave "social crisis." He also demanded that the role of the IMF be revised, because its "recipes" for development have been "venom" for poor countries.
According to Castro, the final document to be signed by the government officials Friday in Monterrey is "a project of consensus that has been imposed upon us by the masters of the world...in which we resign ourselves to humiliating, conditional, and interventionist handouts." "It is time for calm reflection among politicians and national leaders. The belief that an economic and social order that has proven to be unsustainable can be imposed by force is a crazy idea," he said. The discourse laid out by Castro and Chávez was among the only ones that the NGO leaders said they supported. [End Exceprt]
Scenerio...Argentina certainly is in no position to pay its debts, Castro doesn't like us (I still think the best diplomacy would've been to put a major league baseball team in Havana, let tours go there for games/beach/partying...the country would have been Westernized, fast), Brazil needs oil to go along with its resources and land, the US is so involved with NATO/Middle East, China comes up in these discussions about South American unity. China already has a presence in the Panama Canal.
The reason it seems that the mideast is under control is that it sounds like Saudi and Kuwait aren't going to miss an opportunity to gouge the West for oil revenue. But it's this wild card...
The news prompted a frenzy of buying by traders who already feared a halt in shipments from the world's No. 4 crude exporter Venezuela.
International benchmark Brent crude oil jumped $1.01 to $27.00 per barrel by midday in London, resuming an assault on a six-month high of $28.15 seen last week.
U.S. crude futures rose 73 cents to $26.94.
Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein said all oil exports were suspended from Monday for a month or until Israel withdrew unconditionally.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon vowed to press ahead with its sweeping military offensive in defiance of U.S. demands for a withdrawal.
OPEC Secretary-General Ali Rodriguez said he will consult with cartel oil ministers on Tuesday and the group could hold an emergency meeting to decide policy.
Sanctions-bound Iraq is the sixth largest oil supplier to the United States, and ships four percent of world exports. Saddam has already called on other Arab producers to embargo the West for its support of Israel, and Libya has backed the call.
Fellow Gulf oil exporter Iran has said a total blockade by all Islamic states would be very a effective weapon, and supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on Friday for Arab states to launch a one month embargo on the West.
The world's No.1 exporter Saudi Arabia has said it had ample capacity to respond to any major disruption.
Industrialized countries fear high oil prices could damage the nascent economic recovery.
VENEZUELAN CONFUSION
Industry sources said Venezuelan oil loadings were halted at the weekend and oilfield output was already down by half, although the Venezuelan leader insisted on Sunday that production and exports were normal.
Venezuelan state oil company executives are protesting against the government's choice of a new board of directors.
Oil market traders said as many as 25 empty oil tankers were at Venezuelan ports waiting to load on Sunday, and one source said production was already cut by 60 percent.
Venezuela supplies about 15 percent of U.S. oil imports. Latest U.S. government data shows it accounted for about 1.4 million barrels per day of crude imports and another 300,000 bpd of products such as gasoline and diesel.
President Hugo Chavez announced the sacking of seven dissidents from the state oil company on Sunday, labeling them "saboteurs."
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries has cut production by five million bpd since January 2001 to buoy prices, and in March agreed to extend output restrictions until at least its next meeting in June.
Russia and Norway, which both agreed to join OPEC in crude supply curbs, said on Monday it was too early to reconsider the policy now. [End]
I still remember what I heard on RHC during the Gulf War.
(CW, how do you know so much?) This is significant, isn't it? If there is no Venezualan or Iraqui oil and Saudi Arabia can meet the demand, doesn't that kind of curtail the war on terrorism if it should prove to have Saudi involvement? And it puts Saudi Arabia in an interesting position to influence MidEast policy. (And I'm going to hurl if the administration uses this as a reason to drill ANWR).
This is much less transparant and more confusing than the Balkan plays during the Clinton administration.
China, Brazil, barter for Argentinian goods/resources? This is outside the box, but why not a United South America, much like the EU? With strong Chinese influence, much like the US influences Europe. If I were a resident of South America, I'd like the idea.
And I'm neither supporting nor condemning these hypotheses...just considering the possiblilities.
I think it's exactly what he is pushing for. He's been stockpiling oil. Even though he's asked for a reduction in oil exports, he's been pumping in order to take government royalies profit to shore up his faltering economy. He has a lot sitting in reserve.
Ex-president of Venezuelan state oil company accuses government of eroding morale--[Excerpt] One of the major disagreements centered on the Ministry's insistence on adhering to OPEC production cuts, but forcing PDVSA to continue producing surplus oil that has now filled every available storage facility. Although PDVSA cannot sell the oil, the catch is that it still must pay royalties for producing it to the central government, Lameda revealed after his departure. "I started warehousing" when prices were $26 per barrel, he told El Universal newspaper. "They're now $16. The barrels are worth less every day. I told the minister that I have to go out and ask for $500 million in loans while I have $300 million in the warehouse." [End Excerpt]
Another quote from the LINK above.
***Other bones of contention were the central government's demand that the company hand over $4.4 billion in dividends last year, forcing PDVSA to borrow $500 million to pay the bill; and the oil sales to Cuba, whose leader, Fidel Castro, is Chavez's longtime mentor. · Chavez has insisted that oil sales continue to Cuba, despite an unpaid $97 million bill for past sales. ***
Hope our reserves are full. Our jets (commercial and miltary) don't fly on Algore syrup.
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