Feb02/05 - On the sale of CITGO, a good Article from Alek Boyd

The sale of CITGO: the brainchild of Bernard Mommer

By Aleksander Boyd (www.vcrisis.com)

London 02.02.05 | Here are some questions: one calls oneself a revolutionary; one's revolution is built upon one's ability to eradicate poverty, illiteracy, corruption, unemployment and to arrest the imperialist expansion; one presides over a country that has vast energy resources, however said resources need to be refined in order to maximize profits; the more income that the sale of refined products generate the bigger the scope and reach of social missions, funded exclusively by oil related profits, to tackle the social problems aforementioned; the larger the network of refineries the better the opportunity to tap into international markets to generate that much needed income; thus why in the name of god would Venezuela diminish voluntarily its refining capacity abroad? Why would Venezuela actively seek to cut its income? How will Venezuela maintain its social expenditure once all the strategic assets have been sold? How will the disenfranchised benefit from the systematic dismantlement of the only profit generating enterprise that Venezuela has? How will one fund one's revolution once the oil income starts to dry? How will one prevent foreign companies and staff to take over Venezuela's oil production in the future, considering that one has dismissed all local personnel capable of running the industry?

These are some questions that I would like to pose to one German Marxist called Bernard Mommer, ideologue of: a) the stoppage of BITOR's production, b) the sale of CITGO, c) the 'alliances' with poorly run and inefficient public oil conglomerates, d) the dismantlement of PDVSA international refining capacity, e) the boycott to American companies' production and exploration activities in Venezuelan soil and f) the blockage of crude sales to American operated refineries in the Caribbean. Sources report that Mommer appears to have become the favourite oil 'advisor' of Hugo Chavez. What's more PDV UK director and recently appointed chair of BITOR, Mommer has not even visited BITOR's offices in London.

Sources also report that Mommer was sacked in the 90ies from PDVSA by the highly efficient former management of the company. One has to assume that his eagerness to destroy PDVSA is a matter of personal revenge. The thing is that by doing so he is effectively exerting great damage upon all PDVSA's shareholders, that is to say 25 million Venezuelans.

I know for a fact that this website is read by people close to Hugo Chavez and other Venezuelan officials; ask yourselves the above set of questions and understand that by selling everything out you are indeed opening the door for more imperialism. Believe me when I tell you that the USA is not going to suffer the consequences of Mommer's - Chavez' actions. On the contrary it will benefit them for sooner rather than later they'll come around prepared to negotiate in terms that will not be advantageous to you. I also know that revolutionaries hold no sympathy towards capitalism; alas the destruction of PDVSA, as a symbol of capitalism, will affect you, and the revolutionary process you support, more than anybody else. Ask yourselves who wins in this situation.

The Arabs, the Russians and other energy players must by salivating this morning with the thought of laying their hands on CITGO's refineries. Are Mommer action's dictated by other masters?