As I've stated before, and is relatively obvious, the US silently supports Chavez and his regime and agenda via the oil market. The US buys crude oil from Venezuela, and Venezuela in turn uses that money for various things, including weapon purchases from Russia, along with money funneled to the FARC, and other nefarious corruption schemes.
Even the US Navy has a contract with Citgo to sell gasoline on Naval bases. Citgo used to be Cities Services, and was bought out in the '90s by PDVSA, which is the state-run oil company of Venezuela. The contract runs through 2010.
As the article points out, there has been a call in the US to designate Venezuela as a terrorist sponsoring state due to links with the FARC - a designated terrorist organization by all of the world. This would curtail business transactions, including oil sales, between Venezuela and the US and other countries who adhere to the financial embargoes on countries thus designated. It would allow the US to get out of this sticky contract with Citgo.
Chavez in the past has threatened to cut off it's oil supply to the US for various reasons; this being his only trump card to play in his one-sided war of words with the US and particularly the Bush administration.
The fact that the US State Department hasn't come out and specifically said it wouldn't designate Venezuela as a terrorist-sponsoring state leaves me with the feeling that the Bush administration is calling Chavez' bluff on his threat. The idea being that there is more at stake for Venezuela than for the US. I've not heard any pundits back up this theory, but it struck me as I read the article.
Could be interesting.....
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