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Venezuela Accuses US Of "Industrial Espionage" To "Sabotage" The Oil Industry
Submitted by Andy Tully via OilPrice.com,
The government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is investigating a report that the U.S. government has been spying on executives of the state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela, or PDVSA, over the past decade. “The oil industry is the backbone of the Venezuelan economy,” Maduro said on state television. “The U.S. empire for a long time … has intended to sabotage [Venezuela’s] oil industry and defeat the [Caracas] government in order to steal the oil.”
He spoke Wednesday shortly after the news website The Intercept said it had documents from Edward Snowden, the former contractor for the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), saying the agency had been spying on PDVSA’s senior executives. Snowden, who faces espionage charges himself for releasing secret NSA files in 2013, is now living in self-imposed exile in Russia.
Among the allegations by The Intercept was that the NSA intercepted the calls and emails of Rafael Ramirez, who served as PDVSA’s president from 2004 to 2014 and was the country’s energy minister from 2002 to 2014. The Intercept report was based on an article dated March 2011 in an internal NSA newsletter that it said was obtained by Snowden.
The article in the newsletter, SIDToday, said, “[T]he NSA had obtained access to vast amounts of Petróleos de Venezuela’s internal communications.” The Intercept report added, “This produced few emails from PDVSA’s leaders, but the 10,000 employee contact profiles included those of PDVSA’s then-president, Rafael Dario Ramírez, and former company vice president Luis Felipe Vierma Pérez.”
The report came about three weeks after The Wall Street Journal published an article saying Washington had begun “a series of wide-ranging investigations into whether Venezuela’s leaders used PDVSA to loot billions of dollars from the country through kickbacks and other schemes.”
“We cannot accept this,” Maduro said. “It is offensive, a violation of international law.” He added that he would deliver a letter protesting the reported spying to the U.S. chargé d’affaires in Caracas, Lee McClenny, and ordered his government to investigate the report by Intercept. There was no immediate comment from the State Department or McClenny’s office. The United States and Venezuela have not had full diplomatic relations since 2010.
The United States and Venezuela have been at odds since Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chavez, became president in 1999. Until his death from cancer in March 2013, Chavez repeatedly accused Washington of doing its utmost to undermine his practice of “socialism in the 21st century.”
Despite the two countries’ differences, Venezuela, a member of OPEC, is the fourth-largest exporter of oil to the United States, after Canada, Saudi Arabia and Mexico. Despite Maduro’s angry language, the report may amount to no more than a less-than-significant tit-for-tat exchange of accusations and investigations between two rival countries.
For example, last week two nephews of Maduro’s wife, Cilia Flores, were indicted in New York on charges of importing cocaine. Shortly before that, Caracas said a U.S. Coast Guard aircraft violated Venezuelan air space. Last March, Washington issued sanctions on seven Venezuelan government officials, accusing them of human rights offenses, part of what it called the country’s culture of political intimidation.
Supporters of Maduro and Chavez say the Venezuelan government is right to speak truth to the United States, which they say has a centuries-old history of political and economic exploitation throughout Latin America.
Maduro’s critics counter that his public indignation is meant to divert attention from Venezuela’s domestic problems, such as rising crime rates, shortages of food staples and runaway inflation. They say this is especially true as the country prepares for legislative elections on Dec. 6.
Much of Venezuela’s economic problems arise from its oil industry, which is responsible for 96 percent of the country’s foreign income. It has been hit hard by the steep drop in oil prices since mid-2014.
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Lol that shit probably hasn't been updated in 30 years.
So this is how the communists plan and discrediting the US? Really?
zzzzzzzzzz....wake me up when the International Socialist dictators & agitators say something interesting, or at least above a 3rd grade level tantrum
You might be asleep for a long time. The arguments for communism are infantile.
Not to take el presidente's side, but how's that old saying go?
"Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you."
Sleep tight, señor. Don't let the bugs in the walls bite.
Well, he may be a crook and want blame US for everything bad. But that doesn't mean he can't be right on this.
Knowing the track records of the US covert ops like Gladio, Pentagons released documents on current Syrian situation and NSA spying this accusation DO have solid foundation.
He blames the US and oligarchs for everything, and has been for 16 years. If right he and his comrades ought to be guilty of incompetence.
[quote]“The U.S. empire for a long time … has intended to sabotage [Venezuela’s] oil industry and defeat the [Caracas] government in order to steal the oil.”[/quote]
Even a blind sow finds an acorn once in awhile!
Dear Dictator Maduro,
We as USA citizens would like to help your Marxist cause by sending down the soldiers of the BLM army. They will gladly rise up against all things American and Capitalistic in nature.
-USA
Does Maduro know that the US has so much oil we are running out of places to store it?
Maduro is one of the people in charge of making sure that happens.
He's a bus driver so I'm guessing.... no.
Wooo!!! Haha.. Like I said once the boys get it threw 42.75 range we are on the way to 45-46. Then place the shorts for the ride down next week.
Venezela is one of those countries that doesn't need CIA help, they are completely self-fucking......
Someone might want to tell the CIA that.
Langley has better things to spend money on, this is merely a soap opera......
Five years ago I would think they were just mostly BS'ing. Now it's totally believable, unfortunately.
As long as there is an "enemy" it keeps people from blaming the government.
That's why C.I.A. created ISIL and why we have to defeat them!
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!
The US has done worse.
Yeah? And? So? This is still shocking to other world leaders that the US is the dickhead of the world?
You would think everyone would have gotten used to it by now.
No fucking shit Sherlock - the United States is an equal opportunity spymaster - they spy on EVERYONE.
Welll....did they steal the money or not....that is the question.....and the real truth that i am sure the people would love to know...but yes Maduro needs a boogieman to survive....
Wait a minute...Venezuela still exists? But the TEEVEE told me Venezuela was on the brink of collapse three years ago.
What is collapse? Has Lybia collapsed? Has Syria collapsed? Funny ill defined word, that is.
Venezuela could stop selling oil to the US? oh, that would require sacrafice.
Too bad Maduro is a fucking idiot and doesn't know that gold is real money.
Once again, the scapegoat of last resort is used. This will end very badly for the Commies
The USA is one of the few countries that can refine their heavy oil....and they still have Citgo gas stations here...so it must be OK to make dollars....to buy toilet paper
When a man can't get ass wipe...that's where revolutions start. It must be a CIA plot to overthrow the government.
Russia has a new plant to refine it thanks to BP for the brainwork. Really they could use rubles or the V-peso as tp...
How dare this yeahhoo watch the US and learn. Don't we blame everyone else for our troubles? Guilt transference...people seem to learn it at about age 8.
Venezuela is a case study in the complete failure of socialism/marxism as an economic model. Just one of many examples I might add. Maybe if some of those leftist morons in the Ivys would learn and teach from the real world, we wouldn't be having these idiots running around college campuses calling for class warfare and a proletarian revolution.
zzzzzzzzzz....wake me up when the International Socialist dictators & agitators say something interesting, or at least above a 3rd grade tantrum
We stold your Gold too, dumb ass. Stealing Gold/Oil is what the CIA/Bush Family Crime Syndicate is all about. Get over it...
The US is monitoring emails?
NEWSFLASH, the US monitors EVERY email that is routed in/out/through the US.
And a very large portion of international internet traffic is routed through the US. Data moves around the world not based on distance, but based on cost. The US carriers are the cheapest around, so even if an email is to be delivered to a neighbouring country in South America, it can still be cheaper to route it through the US. So of course, the NSA has a copy of it......
Should have did like Mexico bozos. Mexico whose oil and gas makes up 30% of the economy placed hedges of 775million on their oil contracts back in 2014 so now they are getting an equivalent 75 dollars a barrel in a 30 dollar oil market and laughing all the way to the bank. Paying off Yuuuuuge. Smart move. They just said they plan on increasing production as much as possible to make the price fall as deep as possible. Gouge em hard Mexico. No wonder all the mexicans are going back home. drill baby drill LOL
Trump better hurry up and get that wall built.
As for the Saudi sheiks, well since your getting your ass kicked bad in not one but two wars, I would suggest start Jumping off of buildings now and beat the rush. You started it you idiots. Hey it takes big time shekels if you want to be an International Global Playa you inbreed baffoons. And, thats if Putin doesn't decide to mop the floor with your towel heads.
Said one communist to the want to be communists
Nicolas placed bad trading options and is screaming from his mini crib on his lost binky teething toy found within the outskirts of toodler restrictions.
/sarc
Isn't that what the US government does, destroy democratically elected communists and socialist governments so that our corporate oligarchs can steal the countries resources?
He's just trying to distract from internal problems as usual. Most Venezuelans don't even take him serious anymore they just want someone else to run the country at this stage but the Castros won't let it happen, they sap the oil out of Venezuela. Cuba is the leech on Venezuela and Chavez placed it there. All those Venezuelans that haven't woken up already will know before long what a terrible president he was and despise him.
This symbiosis is as terrible as the US/Saudi one but I guess if you're oil rich you will always be abused by the powers that be, either China or the western bankers, it's just funny this happens to be an island like Cuba this time.
Venezuela is finding out the hard way the poverty that results from not respecting private property.
What poverty? The government policy is working perfectly, Maduro is the highest paid politican in the world.
As a member of the NSA, I am well aware of our many nefarious plots to overthrow popular governments worldwide.
In Venezuela's case, Presidente Ralph Kramden is correct. We are indeed committing industrial espionage AND SABOTAGE against the good people of Venezuela and their kindly guardians in the secret police apparatus.
In this case, what we have done is run off a special batch of toilet paper holders that are exactly 12.7mm (okay, it's really 1/2 an inch but the socialists are all metric) shorter than the standard roll of toilet paper.
Chaos and complete industrial paralysis has ensued and they are none the wiser that it was us who did this evil thing to them.
Winning (but stay away from the porno queens if you want to keep it that way).
Boy, I hope Maduro doesn't find out we secretly suck that heavy sludge he calls oil into submarine tankers and that we have a whole collection of sextapes of the former PDVSA president. That bimbo he was doing on his desk was one of the most beautiful Venezuelan I have ever seen. But I digress. Intelligence gathering has some benefits.
Venezuela must form a new non-opec alliance with Russia,Iran,Brazil etc. and stop trading in US dollar
Quit SWIFT, Join BRICS
Do all oil exchange settlements using BRICS system/CIPS
Join the new order, becuz the old economic order is under dictatorship of Evil America
And America being your enemy will see that Venezuela is smashed & broken to pieces or its own dictator installed there to benefit America
Also form a military alliance with Russia and station Russian nuclear bombs similar to American nuclear bombs stationed in europe