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They were just amazing in their dealings with multinational oil corporations. Prior ("neo-liberal") governments had been basically giving away the oil, in a 10/90 split of the profits, favoring the multinationals. The Chavez government eventually achieved a 60/40 split, favoring Venezuela and its social programs (education, health care, land reform, etc.). The oil had been nationalized prior to Chavez but the rich oil elite in Venezuela used the nationalization only to enrich themselves--a small elite--utterly neglecting their country's development and the poor majority. Exxon Mobil walked out of the talks with the Chavez government, in a snit--because they, of course, were used to getting everything they want--but that just opened up the oil concessions to other companies, more eager to compete, and willing to bargain and to pay their social dues, and more respectful of Venezuela's sovereignty and its right to benefit from the oil.
The USGS has determined that Venezuela has the biggest oil reserves on earth--twice Saudi Arabia's. That puts them in a hell of a good bargaining position with China, which has money to loan against future oil needs. I don't know the details of this deal but I would certainly expect that the Venezuelan peoples' interests are well-served by it, based on this recent history. Venezuela had to dip into its considerable international cash reserves to ride out the Bushwhack Great Depression without cutting social programs. They budgeted for 2011 based on a very low $40/barrel oil price, but oil price hit $100/barrel, so they have that speculative strength. They've weathered the worst of it, and now need cash for long range development plans. Again based on recent history, the development will benefit Venezuela and the region. In particular it will help diversify Venezuela's economy and foster the new peace between Venezuela and Colombia (the railroad plans especially), and, in general, will help further the goals of Venezuela and its allies--notably including Brazil--which include social justice and regional economic/political integration.
The problem with U.S.-dominated World Bank/IMF loans--as with Exxon Mobil investment--is that it has been extremely exploitative--encouraging local rich elites to loot their own countries and give away resources, while privatizing pubic services (also "first world" looting of public services), combined with extremely ruinous land policies, anti-labor policies, deregulation and so on, leaving a vast very poor majority with no hope. These U.S. policies have resulted in the ruination of many Latin American economies--total collapse, in some cases, and vast and unnecessary hardship in others. And it has been accompanied by the corrupt, murderous, failed U.S. "war on drugs," which has been used to bolster fascist forces--indeed, to infiltrate the military and the police--and, in some cases, to foster outright murder, on a large scale, of trade unionists, human rights workers, teachers, community activists, journalists, peasant farmers and others--and to expand the Pentagon's footprint in what they call their "Southern Command."
One of the reasons that the U.S. government, and its corporate/war profiteer rulers, hate the Chavez government so much is that the Chavez government and the Venezuelan people have set the precedent for independence in Latin America. Our corporate rulers DON'T LIKE to compete. They are greedy monopolists who have now hijacked the U.S. military for their corporate oil war. Venezuela has greatly influenced the rest of the region toward a more "level playing field"--with south-south trade amongst themselves, and laterally across the "global south" from Africa to Asia. Latin America is well on its way to shedding its status as a slave to the U.S., and the Chavez government and the Venezuelan people were the pioneers in this "declaration of independence."
It is disgusting to watch the "western" press uniformly serve these corpo-fascist interests. Sometimes I think they are all just transcribing the same faxes from Langley. Hugo Chavez, the "dictator" and Hugo Chavez the "incompetent" are the two most repeated (and mindbogglingly incoherent) themes. There is no truth to either of them. The Chavez government is pursuing Venezuela's interests and the interests of the region, NOT U.S. corporate/war profiteer interests. THAT is their problem with Chavez--not that he is a "dictator" (he is not), and not that he is "incompetent" (ridiculous, given the Venezuelan peoples' repeated election of the Chavez government). These same forces just loved our little dictator, Bush Jr., and his frigging unbelievable incompetence. They are so far from being "democratic" and desiring real democracy, and from promoting competent government, it is laughable. No, they want, and have created, a bogeyman--unrelated to the real Chavez, and totally oblivious of the Chavez government and the Venezuelan people--not to mention the interests of the region--in order to DEFEAT democracy in Latin America.
This "Big Lie" about Chavez in the corporate media stretches across the spectrum, from the Wall Street Urinal to the BBCons, and including the paper that touts itself as the U.S. "paper of record," the New York Slimes. They are all foaming at the mouth against Chavez, in the interests of those who own all the media. Shit 'journalism' across the board. It is appalling.
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