MICHAEL ROWAN
SPECIAL ARTICLE FOR EL UNIVERSAL
Hugo Chávez is having second thoughts about Barak Obama.
When Obama said during early presidential primary debates
that he would negotiate without conditions with the dictators
and enemies of America, Chávez was pleased. He figured
Obama was a liberal Democrat like Jimmy Carter or Chris Dodd,
whom he has manipulated with ease. But since Obama has become
the presumptive Democratic nominee and organized a foreign
policy staff of 300 experts, he now urges sanctions against
Chávez for supporting terrorism and money-laundering.
This revelation prompted Chávez to opine that he would
vote for the Republican John McCain, a tough critic of Chávez
who visited Colombia last month in support of its war against
drugs and the FARC. Days later Chávez said that there
was no difference between Obama and McCain —seeing them both
as defenders of the Evil Empire. "Let's not kid ourselves,"
Chávez said, "it is the empire and the empire must fall.
That's the only solution —that it comes to an end." Chávez
is going to learn what those words mean.
Chávez has declared war against America hundreds of
times in recent years, but President Bush ignored them all
to avoid an oil cut-off. That was a mistake. Oil went from
USD 50 to USD 150 while Bush looked the other way. In fact,
Bush was the enabler of Chávez by ignoring him. Under
Chávez, Pdvsa production was reduced by 3 mbd less than
what was planned for 2008, a shortfall that is key to the
rising oil price. Venezuela and Iran have also spiked the
political risk premium paid for oil by myriad threats of war,
terror and oil embargoes, while leading OPEC away from Saudi
moderation to the day of USD 200 o USD 300 oil, as Chávez
predicts.
Chávez's support of the FARC, Hezbollah and Iranian
menacing is final proof to McCain and Obama, if not to Bush,
that his war against America must be addressed. Americans
give Chávez USD 40 billion a year, money he uses not
to eliminate poverty in Venezuela but to conduct an oil war
against America. US sanctions against terror would terminate
that subsidy. If Obama is elected, Chávez may have
to revise who he thinks is the Devil.
michaelrowan22@gmail.com
