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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Chavez Suggests Naming PDVSA "Socialist Petroleum" |
| 2010-06-14 |
| President Hugo Chavez on Sunday proposed changing the name of one of the world's largest oil companies and a major supplier of crude to the United States, Venezuela's state-run PDVSA, to Socialist Venezuelan Petroleum. During 11 years in office, Chavez has added a star to Venezuela's flag, created a new time zone half an hour out of sync with its neighbours and even renamed the country -- it is now called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. The president has put large swathes of the economy under government control, from multibillion dollar oil projects to supermarket chains and coffee roasters. The charismatic leader, often accused by critics of creating a personality cult around himself, refrains from putting his own name on streets or public works. But most companies swept into his nationalization drive now bear names linked to his leftist politics or to South American independence hero Simon Bolivar. "This country has started to be governed by the people, by the working class, and this is a tool of the working class," Chavez said on his weekly TV show. "The new homeland, the new PDVSA, Socialist Venezuelan Petroleum," he said, broadcasting from a heavy crude upgrader controlled by ConocoPhillips until a 2007 nationalization. PDVSA is ranked as the world's fourth largest oil company in an annual survey by industry publication Petroleum Intelligence Weekly. It is South America's top oil exporter and a key supplier of crude to the United States. Chavez said he ordered a study to see if the name could be changed. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #5 well, at least tHugo is being honest about the name he's proposing. give him that. As opposed to some of our politicians. |
| Posted by: Mike Hunt 2010-06-14 23:48 |
| #4 well at least tHugo is just being honest about the name he's proposing. give him that. |
| Posted by: Mike Hunt 2010-06-14 23:46 |
| #3 with a fill-up, you'll get a DVD of Obama speeches, imprinted with an RFID to make sure you watch them all. If you get less than a fill-up, you get two DVDs |
| Posted by: Frank G 2010-06-14 21:03 |
| #2 By an amazing coincidence, Obama was planning to use that name after he nationalized the US part of BP. |
| Posted by: DMFD 2010-06-14 19:58 |
| #1 Oh, please, with sugar on top and extra sprinkles! That would be hilarious. Liberals in the US would squirm terribly, divided eight different ways between those who wanted to openly support "socialist oil", those terrified of being called socialists, those who hate oil and gas of all kinds, the alternative energy types who would "betray socialism by going green", etc. Hee hee. And the conservatives would just sneer at them, boycott socialist oil, and chant "drill baby, drill!", while the liberals seethed. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2010-06-14 10:54 |