Chavez Changes Oil Environment In Venezuela

The African American Environmentalist Association Blog opines about changes in the South American country:

"What is the first sign of a dictator-in-waiting? He seizes the assets of the multinational corporations. 'Elected' president of Venezuela Hugo Chavez just took operational control of such assets from U.S. companies Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips and Chevron, Britain's BP, and Norway's Statoil. Of course, Chavez is pretending to 'negotiate' some sort of shared authority, but these guys have been around the world long enough to know better. It is being reported that Chavez 'paid' a fair market value to some of the companies for control. The check is in the mail. Venezuela currently provides about 9 percent of America's oil imports (down from almost 13% a few years ago). Chavez's buddies in Cuba are also recruiting other countries to help them drill for oil offshore between their country and America. China heads this list. But we digress. Chavez is nationalizing everything in Venezuela. Just what we need: another hostile, socialist/communist dictator to the south of us. It probably will not be long before we have an aircraft carrier parked off Chavez's shore."