Hugo Chavez says he will cut off oil to United States
Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan President, declared that his country will stop exporting oil to the United States if America will get involved in the tensions between Venezuela and Colombia.
In an open political discussion Chavez warned his people about a military attack from Colombia, and accused the United States of being behind such an attack. Colombia and Venezuela are fighting because Chavez is accusing Venezuela of sheltering the Colombian refugee rebels, which has been proved at an emergency meeting of the Organization of American States when the Colombians provided photos of camps belonging to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia located in Venezuela. Venezuela denies the accusations and broke diplomatic ties with the neighboring country. Chavez says that if Colombia attacks, Venezuela will stop supplying oil to the United States, no matter the consequences.
The United States Energy Information Administration says that Venezuela delivers about 894,000 barrels of oil per day and this makes it the fifth-largest supplier of crude oil for America. Hugo Chavez says that he will assure that internal measures will be taken against the opposition and media if a war with Columbia will start, because he believes that the opposition governors are in contact with the Colombian military. In return, Colombia has accused Chavez of funding the rebels, and he thinks that the Colombian officials together with the paramilitary units are planning to assassinate him. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia guerrillas mostly operate in Colombia, but they have illegal activities also in Venezuela, Panama and Ecuador and are believed to smuggle cocaine to finance their battles. This is not the first time when Chavez cuts off diplomatic ties with Colombia: a year ago they accused him of supplying Venezuelan weapons to the rebels.
