Hooray Chavez!
rkm
____________________
Speaking to oil workers on April 30, energy minister Rafael
Ramirez said: ³Welcome to the new PDVSA. Here we begin the
real petroleum nationalisation.² He explained, ³The existing
oil reserves in all national territory Š belong to the
republic and are goods of the public domain. Venezuela is
exercising its right to administer its natural resources for
the benefit of the people.²
Chavez announced that Venezuela finished paying off
its debt to the World Bank and IMF on April 13, and
is demanding the IMF pay Venezuela the $3.9 billion
it has invested in the institution. Chavez said: ³We
do not need to go to Washington, to the [IMF] nor to
the World Bank. We will withdraw. I want to sign the
order this evening and ask that they return what is
owed us.²
____________________
Original source URL:
http://www.greenleft.org.au/2007/708/36760
Venezuela takes on oil multinationals
Stuart Munckton
4 May 2007
³Thousands of Venezuelan workers took control of foreign-owned oil fields
yesterday as Hugo Chavez stepped up his battle with Washington in a new wave of
nationalisation and an announcement that the country was leaving the World Bank
and the International Monetary Fund [IMF]², reported the British Guardian on May
2.
The paper reported on the most significant of the new moves by the
pro-working-class government of President Hugo Chavez to ³deepen² the pro-poor
revolution it is leading in order to create ³socialism of the 21st century² ‹
the forcing of the foreign oil giants operating in the Orinoco Belt, believed to
hold the world¹s largest reserves of crude oil, into joint ventures with PDVSA
that will give the state-owned oil company at least 60% control. The investments
of ConocoPhillips, Chevron, Exxon Mobil, BP, Statoil and Total in the area
amount to US$17 billion.
Chavez gave oil corporations until May 1 to cede control. All but ConocoPhilips
struck agreements handing a majority of shares over to PDVSA. The Guardian
reported that oil workers began gathering at key installations on the evening of
April 30. The paper reported: ³Amid jubilant scenes, oil workers wearing red
T-shirts emblazoned with Œyes to nationalisation¹ moved into the giant Orinoco
basin shortly after midnight Š²
The moves follow the bitter, and ultimately successful, battle to bring PDVSA
under full government control in 2003. Previously, the nominally state-owned
industry was run by a corrupt elite that, before Chavez¹s election in 1998, had
begun preparing for the industry¹s privatisation. Only 20% of PDVSA¹s revenues
were being handed over to the state.
Despite being the largest oil producer in Latin America, when Chavez was elected
the majority of Venezuela¹s population lived in poverty. The PDVSA elite allowed
private oil corporations access to Venezuela¹s oil reserves in the 1990s under a
policy known as the ³opening².
As well as imposing a series of tax and royalty hikes on oil corporations
operating in the country, last year the government forced 32 private operations
into joint ventures with PDVSA that gave the company a majority share.
Corporations that failed to come to an agreement were forcibly taken over.
The government has used the growth in oil revenue, a result of high prices and
increased government control of the industry, to fund its social missions, which
are aimed at redistributing wealth and empowering the poor. Pro-poor policies,
which are at the heart of the Bolivarian revolution led by Chavez, have resulted
in a reduction in the official level of households living in poverty from just
under 50% at the time of Chavez¹s election to 37% by 2005.
Following his re-election in December, with the largest number of votes in
Venezuelan history and on an explicit platform of constructing socialism, Chavez
insisted that strategic industries need to be under government control, and that
³all that was privatised, let it be nationalised². Venezuela¹s largest
telecommunications company and six electricity companies have since been
nationalised.
While angering the US government and Venezuela¹s corporate-owned media, such
policies are strongly supported by working people. Reuters reported that at
midnight on May 1, workers who had gathered for a symbolic event welcoming the
takeover ³exploded into a frenzied celebration after a New Year¹s Eve-style
countdown, dancing until the early dawn hours with some standing atop a pipeline
that runs toward the installations². Venezuelanalysis.com reported on May 2 that
PDVSA oil workers at the event symbolically swapped their traditional blue
helmets for new red ones ‹ the colour of the Bolivarian revolution.
Speaking to oil workers on April 30, energy minister Rafael Ramirez said:
³Welcome to the new PDVSA. Here we begin the real petroleum nationalisation.² He
explained, ³The existing oil reserves in all national territory Š belong to the
republic and are goods of the public domain. Venezuela is exercising its right
to administer its natural resources for the benefit of the people.²
Venezuelanalysis.com reported that Chavez addressed a gathering of 40,000 oil
workers and supporters at the Industrial Complex Jose Antonio Anzoategui, on May
1 to celebrate the takeover and May Day, the international workers¹ day.
Standing in front of a banner reading ³Full oil sovereignty. Road to socialism²,
Chavez said: ³Finally, today we have buried the 10 years of petroleum opening
[to private corporations Š Imperialism dominated our basic industry, our energy
resources and our natural resources for a long time. That is over today.²
This year¹s May Day further signalled the degree to which the Chavez government
is attempting to deepen the revolutionary process in favour of the poor and
working people. Venezuelanalysis.com reported on May 1 that the previous evening
Chavez announced an increase in the minimum wage of 20%, bringing it to $286 per
month, the highest in Latin America. The minimum wage has been repeatedly
increased under Chavez; it was $183 per month when he was first elected.
Chavez explained that previously, conditions imposed on Venezuela by the IMF
required low wages. Responding to criticism from the right-wing,
opposition-controlled Confederation of Venezuelan Workers that the increase was
insufficient, Chavez pointed out that public service workers also receive food
stamps worth $209, making the real minimum wage for public sector workers $495
per month.
A May 2 Bloomsberg.com article reported that the government also used May Day to
announce plans to slash the working week from 44 hours to 36 hours by May 1,
2010. A commission has been established to draw up a new labour law, with
shortening of the working week a key component. According to labour minister
Jose Ramon Rivero, the law would also protect household labour, require bosses
at firms with more than 20 workers to provide meals, and promote the
organisation of socialist education classes in workplaces.
Venezuelanalysis.com also reported that Venezuela was officially withdrawing
from the IMF and World Bank. The Chavez government has been an outspoken critic
of the institutions, which force neoliberal policies on Third World countries
that further impoverish the population. Venezuela has initiated, with the
support of Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador and Brazil, Bancosur ‹ the Bank of the
South. Bancosur aims to provide an alternative source of cheap credit for Third
World countries without imposing harsh conditions.
Chavez announced that Venezuela finished paying off its debt to the World Bank
and IMF on April 13, and is demanding the IMF pay Venezuela the $3.9 billion it
has invested in the institution. Chavez said: ³We do not need to go to
Washington, to the [IMF] nor to the World Bank. We will withdraw. I want to sign
the order this evening and ask that they return what is owed us.²
From: International News, Green Left Weekly issue #708 9 May 2007.
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