"Screw with Us - Well Cut Off Your Oil, " Chavez Warns Bush Reich at Rally

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

"Screw with Us - Well Cut Off Your Oil, " Chavez Warns Bush Reich at Rally

Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit

[The AFP story's about the best; Reuters is even sillier than AP; we'll
spare readers that one. -NYTr]

AFP via Yahoo - Nov 30, 2007
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071201/wl_afp/venezuelareferendum_071201000918

Chavez threatens to stop oil ex****ts to US if poll violence

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez threatened Friday to stop oil ex****ts
to the United States if violence breaks out after a controversial and
hotly contested weekend referendum.

He told thousands of sup****ters in Caracas that he was sending the army
to "protect" all of the country's oil fields ahead of the plebiscite on
Sunday aimed at bolstering his power by changing the constitution.

"If 'Operation Pincer' is activated Sunday or Monday, there won't be a
drop of oil from Venezuela to the United States," Chavez said,
referring to what he has often claimed is a CIA operation to topple him
from power.

"If this (referendum) is used as a pretext to start violence in
Venezuela, (Energy) Minister (Rafael) Ramirez on Monday will order that
oil ex****ts to North America be stopped," he said.

"I have ordered the defense minister ... to put in place plans to
protect our oil fields and our refineries. As of this night (Friday),
they will be protected by the army," he said.

Chavez also deepened a running row with Spain, whose King Juan Carlos
recently told him to "shut up," by threatening to nationalize Spanish
banks in Venezuela if the monarch did not apologize.

The warnings upped the stakes over the referendum, which polling
companies said was too close to call.

Chavez, opposition figures and analysts have all said they fear a close
result will be viewed with skepticism by the losing side and trigger
violence.

Venezuela currently ex****ts around 60 percent of the two million
barrels of oil it produces per day to the United States, which relies
on the South American nation for 11 percent of its oil needs.

Relations between Caracas and Wa****ngton have long been tense, but
Chavez has raised his strident anti-US rhetoric several notches as he
has fought to have his referendum pass.

The 53-year-old leftist leader is facing his biggest-ever challenge at
the ballot box over the proposed constitutional reforms. Even Chavist
loyalists in Venezuela's myriad urban slums are balking at sup****ting
them.

With the result on a knife-edge, Chavez has taken to calling all
opponents to the changes "traitors" and ****traying the referendum as a
struggle between his "economic socialism" and US "imperialism."

"A vote 'yes' is a vote for Chavez -- a vote 'no' is a vote for (US
President) George W. Bush," he told the crowd Friday.

Protests against the referendum have gathered strength, culminating
Thursday in a huge rally that denounced Chavez's plan as a bid to turn
Venezuela into a Cuba-like communist state.

The proposed constitutional changes would do away with term limits for
the president and lengthen his mandate from six years to seven.

It would also allow the government to censor the media in times of
"emergency," and take over the central bank and expropriate property to
guarantee food supplies.

The fiercely anti-US leader, who has nurtured ties with Iran and China,
has repeatedly accused Wa****ngton of fomenting resistance to him in the
country, without advancing any evidence.

"Venezuela: we will never be a colony of the United States or of anyone
- -- we are free," he said in his rally speech.

The US television network CNN was also attacked in his speech.

He claimed it had incited his assassination by putting the caption "Who
killed him?" under his images this week, and dismissed the network's
apology and explanation that it was an on-air mix-up.

Chavez said he was ready to rule "until 2050" if the people wanted him,
and he sent a message to his mentor, Cuba's Fidel Castro, saying, in
English: "Fidel, how are you?"

An editorial attributed to the Cuban leader on Friday warned that the
United States may seek to assassinate Chavez.

Chavez has multiplied diplomatic disputes with other countries. As well
as the running feud with Spain, he has said he would refuse to deal any
more with Colombia, after its president axed him as mediator in
negotiations for a hostage swap with leftist FARC guerrillas.

                          ***

AP via Yahoo - Nov 30, 2007
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071201/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/venezuela_constitution_39

Chavez backers rally for charter changes

President Hugo Chavez urged thousands of sup****ters Friday to approve
constitutional changes that he said could keep him in power until 2050
and threatened to halt oil ex****ts to the U.S. if it tries to disrupt
Sunday's vote.

The firebrand leftist told tens of thousands of sup****ters filling the
streets that a victory in Sunday's referendum would be a defeat for his
enemies in Wa****ngton. He threatened to halt the ex****ts if it the U.S.
tries "sabotaging" the vote.

"If God gives me life and help, I will be at the head of the government
until 2050!" Chavez told the crowd.

"To the Venezuelan oligarchy and the U.S. empire, from here I'm warning
them that they won't be able to stop the car of the Bolivarian
Revolution, because on Sunday we will approve the constitutional
reform," Chavez said. "We will hand a new knockout on Sunday to the
Venezuelan oligarchy."

His opponents have called for close monitoring of results in what they
expect to be a tight contest.

THIS IS AN UPDATE. 
AP's earlier story is below.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) " Tens of thousands of President Hugo Chavez's
sup****ters filled the streets Friday vowing to win a vote on
constitutional changes that would let the firebrand leftist seek
re-election for years to come. Opponents called for close monitoring of
results in what they expect could be a tight contest.

Chavez asked sup****ters to approve the reforms he said could keep him
in power until 2050 " when he would be 95 years old " and said that a
victory in Sunday's referendum would be a defeat for his enemies in
Wa****ngton.

"To the Venezuelan oligarchy and the U.S. empire, from here I'm warning
them that they won't be able to stop the car of the Bolivarian
Revolution, because on Sunday we will approve the constitutional
reform," Chavez said to cheers. "We will hand a new knockout on Sunday
to the Venezuelan oligarchy."

The pro-Chavez rally came a day after more than 100,000 opposition
sup****ters filled the same avenue promising to defeat revisions that
would also extend presidential terms from six to seven years, create
new forms of communal property and expand Chavez's powers to reshape
Venezuela as a socialist state.

Chavez denies he is trying to amass power, saying the changes are
necessary to give the people a greater voice in government and to move
toward a socialist system.

Xiomi Diaz, a 34-year-old farmer, traveled with Chavez sup****ters to
the capital from across the country in hundreds of buses.

"Chavez has become a father for us," she said. "He's a father of the
poor."

Human Rights Watch warned the reforms would threaten fundamental
rights, citing one revision allowing the president to declare
indefinite states of emergency during which the government could detain
citizens without charge and censor the media.

"These amendments would enable President Chavez to suspend basic rights
indefinitely by maintaining a perpetual state of emergency," said Jose
Miguel Vivanco of the New York-based group.

In Wa****ngton, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the
United States hopes the referendum will be "a free and fair contest in
which the will and desire of the Venezuelan people is reflected."

Chavez's opponents have questioned the National Electoral Council's
impartiality, especially after Chavez named its former chief, Jorge
Rodriguez, as his vice president in January. But in contrast to past
elections, when the opposition has boycotted votes or been split on
whether to participate, this time many opposition leaders are
emboldened and urging voters to turn out in large numbers.

The government and the opposition both cite polls suggesting their side
is in the lead, raising tensions ahead of the referendum.

University students have led protests and occasionally clashed with
police and Chavista groups. One man was shot dead Monday while trying
to get through a road blocked by protesters.

The opposition also has been heartened by some recent defections from
Chavez's movement, including former Defense Minister Gen. Raul Baduel.
Even Chavez's ex-wife, Marisabel Rodriguez, has urged Venezuelans to
vote "no."

About 100 electoral observers from 39 countries in Latin America,
Europe and the United States are on hand, plus hundreds of Venezuelan
observers, the National Electoral Council said.

Yet, absent this time are the Organization of American States and the
European Union, which have monitored past votes. The short notice
before the vote " the reforms were approved by the solidly pro-Chavez
National Assembly just one month before " has prevented both
institutions from sending delegations that normally take six months to
prepare.

Among those attending are observers from the National Lawyers Guild and
the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Chavez's opponents have been suspicious of electronic voting machines
made by Boca Raton, Fla.-based Smartmatic Inc., which is primarily
owned by three Venezuelans. But Luis Enrique Lander of the Venezuelan
vote-monitoring group Ojo Electoral said his team is satisfied with
vote preparations and safeguards.

As in past elections, Venezuelans will get paper receipts that verify
their choices were properly recorded, and must deposit them into boxes
before leaving the polls. Lander said that is a key safeguard, in
addition to an audit of the paper slips at 54 percent of polling
stations.

Chavez, who was first elected in 1998, has dismissed some polls
suggesting a close race. He was handily re-elected last year with 63
percent of the vote. This time, he has warned his opponents could try
to deny the results and launch violent protests.

Chavez's close friend and ally Fidel Castro said Friday he has warned
the Venezuelan leader to watch out for assassination attempts, telling
him to avoid open-top vehicles that could be targeted by snipers.

"On Chavez's recent visit last Nov. 21, I seriously discussed with him
the risks of assassination as he is constantly out in the open in
convertible vehicles," Castro wrote in an essay published in Cuba's
official newspapers.

[Associated Press writers Will Weissert in Havana and Fabiola Sanchez
in Caracas contributed to this re****t.]

                                 *
=================================================================
 NY Transfer News Collective     *    A Service of Blythe Systems
           Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us
            Our main website:   http://www.blythe.org
   List Archives:       http://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/
   Subscribe:     http://blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr
=================================================================

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.7 (FreeBSD)

iD8DBQFHUMXjiz2i76ou9wQRAqk0AKDCsTJfHWZ/SRvAS6bdGmzK5wiyXQCgmD1O
icFZoDy+FBLSYrDhzTLgZaM=
=YR4P
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----