Venezuela president: no oil if U.S. tries to ‘hurt’ his country

The Associated Press

Venezuela President Hugo Chavez warned March 4 that his nation, the world’s fifth-largest oil exporter, would cut off oil supplies to the United States if Washington tries to “hurt” his country, news reports said.

“We want to supply oil to the United States. We are not going to avoid supplying of oil unless the U.S. government gets a little bit crazy and tries to hurt us,” he told reporters during a visit to India, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

“If there is any aggression, there will be no oil,” said Chavez. His country is a major supplier of oil and gas to the United States.

He also ruled out the possibility of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries raising the current oil output.

“No, we (OPEC) are producing enough,” he said.

“Increasing prices of oil have nothing to do with the OPEC,” he said, adding that “the structure of the market” determines oil price levels. “Anyhow, we are evaluating the factors affecting the market,” he said.

In February, Chavez and Cuban President Fidel Castro accused the United States of trying to assassinate the Venezuelan leader. The U.S. State Department called the allegations ridiculous.

Later, Venezuela Foreign Minister Ali Rodriguez Araque took his government’s case against the United States to the Organization of American States, indirectly accusing Washington of repeatedly violating Venezuela sovereignty.

Without mentioning the United States by name, Foreign Minister Ali Rodriguez Araque said his government’s intelligence agencies have evidence suggesting an attempt to “liquidate physically” Chavez.

Rodriguez also alluded to an unnamed “stimulus” behind a failed military coup attempt against Chavez in April 2002. Chavez has charged repeatedly that the plot was a product of U.S. imperialism.

The U.S. State Department has rejected the allegation, and a department inspector general investigation found no evidence of U.S. wrongdoing.

Relations between the United States and Venezuela have deteriorated steadily since Chavez took office in February 1999.

Chavez has repeatedly accused Washington of trying to destabilize his government. The administration of George W. Bush is uneasy about Chavez’s intimate ties with Castro and his perceived efforts to silence his political opponents and Venezuela’s media.