[progchat_action] Exxon Mobil's Extortion in Venezuela Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2008 23:48:15 -0600 (CST) http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_26094.shtml Exxon Mobil's Extortion in Venezuela By Felix Arroyo* - Axis of Logic Exclusive! Feb 21, 2008 The transnational multibillionaire oil corporation, Exxon Mobil, has sued PDVSA, the Venezuelan national petroleum company in a clear attempt to stop Venezuela from rescuing their own national resource. Exxon Mobil has moved to freeze $12billion dollars in assets from PDVSA in Holland and the United Kingdom and $300 million in the United States as a way to guarantee payments for their contract to extract oil from the Orinoco reserves in Venezuela. Lets review briefly the five parts impacted by this case: The International Court, Exxon Mobil, PDVSA, The Bolivarian Government and the Venezuelan people. Exxon Mobil closed its books with over $46 billion in profits last year. The company made this amazing and unprecedented profit while the U.S. citizens paid as much as $3.00 per gallon for gas. In addition, the cost of heating oil in the United States increased to unreachable levels for poor and middle class families. Contrariwise, Venezuelans pay a few cents per gallon for gasoline. Exxon Mobil currently controls oil interests in 120 countries, the obvious majority of which are third world countries where contracts benefit Exxon Mobil's interests disproportionately. PDVSA, Venezuelan's Oil Company, had in recent years invested its earnings in "sowing oil". That is, transforming a significant part of their profits into social developing programs to directly benefit Venezuelans, mainly the poor. These have been very concrete programs addressing housing, education, low cost food availability and collective community-owned businesses, among many other programs called social "missions". In the United States, many low income people in cities across the northeast and many native American reservations are also benefiting from a PDVSA program that sells them heating oil at a 40% discount. CITGO was the only oil company that responded to a call from many U.S. congressmen for such a program. According to official records, since December 2007, CITGO had distributed 112 million gallons of heating oil to more than 224,000 families and community agencies in 23 states. The program is in its third year and continuing. In contrast, ExxonMobil never answered the call from their own country for a reduction in the cost of heating oil for those in need. That commitment would have affected their earnings, and their only reason to exist as a private corporation, as with all other corporations, is profit. The Bolivarian Government made the decision to rescue their oil resources from the transnational corporations - for their own people. This determination was not arbitrarily made nor was it done by imminent domain as is the practice in the United States. A process with legal guidelines was established to negotiate a fair compensation and new share contracts with PDVSA. Within the Orinoco oil reserves there were 33 foreign oil companies doing business. The contracts they made before Chavez' government, paid only 1% in taxes and revenues to Venezuela. Thirty of these companies negotiated reasonable compensations and new contracts in conjunction with PDVSA. Only two U.S. companies initially refused to re-negotiate their contracts. One of them, ConocoPhillips, is now conducting normal negotiations with PDVSA; the other, Exxon Mobil, selected to go to International Court. The New York Court would not have any jurisdiction regarding these matters if the original negotiators had not included certain language in the original contracts. That language explicitly allowed the multinationals to challenge nationalization in foreign courts. The Court's recent action does not mean that the currently frozen money will be allocated to Exxon Mobil, but that negotiations will only be done through the court as a mediator. Whatever happens, Exxon Mobil has closed the door for good with the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the consequences could be negative internationally for them. The Venezuelan people, as previously stated, got real control of their oil resources through the substantial administrative changes and new goals of "sowing oil", under the administration of President Hugo Chavez Frias. In many media outlets, PDVSA periodically publishes a financial report to their owners, the Venezuelan people. This fight is therefore, between a privately owned corporation, interested in their profits and the Venezuelan people. It is imperative that these facts are made clear, since a virulent, misinformation campaign is already spreading throughout the corporate media, encouraged and sponsored by Exxon Mobil and their allies. There is much more to be said, but in the mean time we, as free thinkers, shall pursue the truth and not allow Exxon Mobil and their friends determine our future. *Felix D. Arroyo is has been an organizer and activist in the Latin community in Boston, Massachusetts for many years. Highly respected by his constituency, he is known for his contributions to social justice and opposition to U.S. imperialism. He was a city councilor (at-large) in Boston, Massachusetts, United States from January 2003 - January 2008. He completed his undergraduate studies and received a Masters in Secondary Education at the University of Puerto Rico. A long-time resident of Boston, he taught at Springfield College, UMass Boston, Roxbury Community College, Boston University, and Emmanuel College. In 1992, he resigned his salaried position as the Director of Personnel for the City of Boston to take an unpaid position as a member of the Boston School Committee. Felix also served as Vice President and President of the Boston School Committee. ) Copyright 2008 by AxisofLogic.com http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_26094.shtml This material is available for republication as long as reprints include verbatim copy of the article its entirety, respecting its integrity. Reprints must cite the author and Axis of Logic as the original source including a "live link" to the article. Thank you! Visit Mr. Arroyo's website at http://felixarroyo.com and contact the author at: felix@felixarroyo.net