|
Chavez set to 'govern for life'
02/12/2007 08:00 - (SA)
Caracas - President Hugo Chavez again threatened on Saturday to halt oil exports if he sees US meddling in, or after, a hotly contested weekend referendum that could let him lead Venezuela for the rest of his life.
"If it starts a process of destabilisation, incites a civil war, not only will the United States not get any of the 3.2m barrels (produced per day in Venezuela according to official figures) but nothing will go onto the market, not a drop," Chavez warned, explaining he would stop all oil exports.
"There will be no oil for anyone, and the price per barrel will go up to $200," he said in an hours-long encounter with reporters.
His comments reaffirmed a threat he made late on Friday, in a final rally before Sunday's plebiscite. They also appeared to break election rules barring any campaigning the day before polling.
In the capital, some residents cheered Chavez's strong line.
"He did right! The United States has to know what will happen to it if it attacks us like it did Iraq and wants to do to Iran," said Jose Antonio Garcia, a 43-year-old off-duty police officer shopping for groceries in a market.
'Old trick'
But a political analyst at the Central University of Venezuela, Tulio Hernandez, said: "The anti-American rhetoric is an old trick the regime uses to rally supporters.
Chavez's tactic is to depict himself as a victim of the United States and the entire world."
Venezuela, an Opec member, currently exports about 60% of its oil to the United States. The trade is worth $37bn a year at current prices, and supplies about 11% of US oil needs.
A fiercely anti-US leader who has nurtured ties with Iran and China, Chavez has repeatedly accused Washington of setting up resistance in the country, without advancing any evidence.
The escalation in his language comes as he faces the prospect of maybe losing Sunday's referendum.
The latest polls show a dead-heat in voter intentions - setting the scene for street violence if the losing side refuses to recognise a close result.
The referendum calls for a scrapping of term limits for the president, opening the way for Chavez to stay on indefinitely past January 2013, when he is due to step down.
Elected dictator
The 53-year-old president has said he would govern for life if the people backed him.
Changes to allow the government to take over the central bank, expropriate private property in the name of "economic socialism," and gag the media in times of emergency are also being proposed.
Opponents, whose number has swelled in past weeks with the defection of some Chavez allies, say the reforms would amount to making Venezuela a Cuba-like communist state, with an elected "dictator".
Chavez has dismissed those ranked against him as "traitors" acting to further US "imperialism."
The United States is not the only target of Chavez's verbal broadsides.
The leader has promised to nationalize Spanish banks in Venezuela if Spain's King Juan Carlos does not apologize for telling him to "shut up" at a recent summit.
And on Saturday he renewed his attacks on CNN, which he claimed was biased against him.
He claims the US network incited his assassination by showing his image with the caption "Who killed him?" and dismissed its explanation that it was merely an on-air mix-up with another story.
"Hitler could be the boss of CNN," Chavez said, adding that he was pursuing legal action against the company.
- AFP
|
News
