nationalizing oil in venezuela:
Newly bought Russian-made fighter jets streaked through the sky as Chavez shouted "Down with the U.S. empire!" to thousands of red-clad oil workers in the Orinoco River Basin, calling the state takeover a historic victory for Venezuela after years of U.S.-backed corporate exploitation.
(...) Chavez accused foreign oil companies of bad drilling practices due to their hunger for quick profits, and said Venezuela could sue them for causing lasting damage to oil fields.
(...) [however] The companies have leverage with Chavez because experts agree that Venezuela's state oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA, cannot transform the Orinoco's tar-like crude into marketable oil without their investment and experience.
(...) Nationalization of the oil industry has been tried in Venezuela before, though with a different tack. Venezuela shut companies out of the oil sector completely between 1976 and 1992 before beginning a series of partial privatizations, which Chavez is now rolling back. Chavez is also nationalizing electricity companies and the country's biggest telecommunications company, and has threatened to take over private hospitals if they continue raising prices for care. He says radical changes are needed to help the poor.
(...) [and the brilliant minds at the state department:] "I think he's digging a hole for the Venezuelan people," McCormack told reporters in Washington. "You can't take the shovel out of the man's hand. He just keeps on digging. And sadly, it's the Venezuelan people who are victimized by this."