A Newsmax article.

quote Venezuela Oil Chief Tells U.S.: ‘Go to Hell’ The head of Venezuela’s state oil company said the United States can “go to hell” after it imposed economic sanctions on the firm for its ties to Iran. “The imperialists can go to hell. Their sanctions mean nothing to us,” Rafael Ramirez, head of Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) and the country’s energy and petroleum minister, said Wednesday. “No one is going to impose this kind of action against us. We do what best serves the people of Venezuela and what best serves the interests of the Venezuelan state.” The United States this past week imposed sanctions on PDVSA and six other companies it accused of supplying gasoline and petroleum products to Iran, AFP reported. By applying pressure on Iran’s energy sector, the United States hopes to slow its nuclear enrichment program, allegedly aimed at developing nuclear weapons. Venezuela had earlier expressed its “utmost rejection” of the “hostile” American sanctions. Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro said he would determine the “appropriate reprisal” to the American move. Venezuela exports about 1 million barrels of oil a day to the United States.

..Iran is moving long range missiles into Venezuela,, they are only good enough to reach Key West & Miami
the longer Chvez is in power the more harm he does to the country ,,just look at the poison many our young men beleave

Like i said in another thread, we need to take over venezuela. I have personally been there, and entire cities can go out of power for several hours a day because the president of the whole country wants to "save power"

Half the population is well off, the other have are starving, poor, or criminals . Kidnap and murder capital of Latin america, the capital Caracas is the murder capital of the world and of couse I had the pleasntry of having to land there even though my destination city was on the total other side of the country.

I am cuban born and the venezuelans have an alliance with cuba, the many military police that checked my ID at the many checkpoints across the country (not just me venezuelans I traveled with as well). Despite being a US passport they looked directy at the birth country first ALL OF THEM and when they saw I was born in Cuba, they were all like "how do you like our country"? of course i lied and said loved it. Nervously

I am blonde hair green eyes look totally american or white but speak fluent spanish its my first language so I never had a problem with the officers there which are not police. They are military trained guerillas with assault rifles. I hear horror stories from americans that travel through venezuela and they straight up get mugged for as little as 10 or 20 dollars whatever the official asks for/demands. They are corrupt, there are no dash cams, no recorded patrol unit no justice. The polce there are also kidnappers

[This message has been edited by ShadowHawk (edited 05-30-2011).]

Just how were we helping Venezuela drill for oil ?

quote Originally posted by ShadowHawk: Like i said in another thread, we need to take over venezuela.

Thats what Uncle Hugo wants... He has been building up his forces with "new" SU-27 fighters, and he deals with Iran and allies with Iran/Cuba and I am sure he would ally with North Korea if he could.

In fact the more we ignore Uncle hugo, the more sensational stories come out of that place of him trying to get attention.

VZ needs to get rid of Uncle Hugo themselves... Thats an internal matter [that] we dont need to get involved in.

[This message has been edited by htexans1 (edited 05-30-2011).]

Chavez has himself set up as ruler for life. The poor love the way he hands out the money, the rich are terified of him, and he controls the courts, law enforcement, the military and the banks. He nationalized pretty much all of the foriegn-owned businesses there years ago. The only way the Venezualens can rid themselves of the guy is through assisination or armed revolt.

If they did kill him, the results might be much the same as when Dorothy killed the Wicked Witch - a lot of the population would like to see him go and are too afraid for themselves to do anything about it.

As for help from the USA in getting rid of him - BHO has probably studied his book and can hardly wait to set up the same thing here. IMHO, they are cut from the same cloth.

[This message has been edited by olejoedad (edited 05-30-2011).]

quote Just how were we helping Venezuela drill for oil ?

Actually we weren't. It just seemed that way because Obama hadn't done or said anything to Chavez about his seizure of American company owned oil rigs.

http://bearwitness.info/OilDrilling.aspx

quote OBAMA’S FRIEND, HUGO CHAVEZ, SEIZES AMERICAN OIL RIGS IN VENEZUELA Posted by FactReal on July 2, 2010 MARXISTS LOVE TO STEAL In January 2009, Venezuela’s state-run oil company (PDVSA) owed the U.S. driller Helmerich & Payne (H&P) close to $100 million. H&P, as any business or employee, cannot operate without getting paid. H&P stopped operations on two of its drilling rigs. Marxist Hugo Chavez responded by nationalizing H&P’s rigs. Via Reuters: Venezuela’s government took formal ownership on Thursday of 11 oil rigs seized from U.S. company Helmerich and Payne . Socialist President Hugo Chavez has nationalized most of the Latin American country’s oil industry, starting with major heavy crude projects worth billions of dollars in 2007, then taking over dozens of smaller service companies last year. Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said last week the OPEC member would nationalize the rigs following a year-long dispute over pending payments by state oil company PDVSA. AP has the background story: Venezuela’s government has seized control of 11 oil rigs owned by U.S. driller Helmerich & Payne, which shut them down because the state oil company [PDVSA] was behind on payments. Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez announced that Venezuela would nationalize the Tulsa, Oklahoma-based company’s rigs. He said in a statement Wednesday that Helmerich & Payne had rejected government demands to resume drilling operations for more than a year. Helmerich & Payne announced in January 2009 that it was stopping operations on two of its drilling rigs, because Venezuela’s state-run oil company, PDVSA, owed the company close to $100 million. It said it would shut down the rest of its rigs by the end of July as contracts expired unless PDVSA began to make good on its debts. The company said Thursday that PDVSA’s debt was $43 million as of June 14. Referring to Helmerich & Payne, Ramirez said: “There’s a group of drill owners who have refused to discuss service prices and have preferred to have this equipment put away for a year.” President and CEO Hans Helmerich said in a statement on Thursday the company’s position has remained clear: “We simply wanted to be paid for work already performed.” “We stated repeatedly we wanted to return to work, just not for free,” he said.

I know about that.
As I posted July the 4^th, 2010 ... as posted in this thread.

quote from linky Venezuela's legislature has voted to nationalize 11 oil rigs owned by the US firm Helmerich & Payne. PDVSA had asked the legislature controlled by supporters of leftist President Hugo Chavez to take over the rigs after the US firm declined to negotiate a new service contract, unlike 32 other foreign firms.

I have worked for Helmerich & Payne. A top notch drilling contractor with excellent experience, some of the most modern equipment in the world, and a very safety conscious organization.
Other links I have read suggest it was not because of refusing to renegotiate drilling contracts. New contracts were not negotiated due to non payment for work done. At one time $100 million, down to $43 million at present.
Another linky

quote linky Other oil services companies have complained about delayed payments. Dallas-based Ensco International Inc. said last year that it had suspended drilling off Venezuela's Caribbean coast because it was owed $35 million — prompting PDVSA to take over its operations. Starting in 2008, PDVSA accumulated unpaid debts of about $7.5 billion to oil industry service contractors. The state oil company paid off more than $5 billion of those debts in 2009, partly relying on bonds to cover its obligations. (This paragraph to be re-quoted later.)

Helmerich & Payne's world headquarters are located in Tulsa Oklahoma.
Linky from the Tulsa World Daily Newspaper

quote from linky Williams Cos. Inc. of Tulsa, a natural gas producer, lost two joint-venture compression plants to seizure last year and also was forced to take a $241 million write-down on its books because of nonpayment. ConocoPhillips, the integrated oil giant with significant offices in Bartlesville, lost multibillion-dollar joint venture projects to seizure by PDVSA. The Houston company later sought international arbitration over the compensation offered by Venezuela.

quote re-quote Starting in 2008, PDVSA accumulated unpaid debts of about $7.5 billion to oil industry service contractors. The state oil company paid off more than $5 billion of those debts in 2009, partly relying on bonds to cover its obligations.

Another failed example of socialism, . They have to rely on bonds to pay a debt which could have been paid from production. Who the hell would buy their bonds ? Uncle Hugo offered free or low cost gas to us, as a propaganda tool, when Katrina and Rita hit Texas.

quote Originally posted by MidEngineManiac: If I get this straight......

You don't.