Thomko Petro Chemical Blog

A social revolution is underway in Venezuela with Chavez making threats to cut off U.S. oil on Monday, and demanding to be president for life. 

He accused the U.S. of sabotage of this weekends election, along with a U.S. sabotage of the country's oil fields and other facilities.

And he said if he loses today's election - it's the U.S. fault - and he threatened to cut off oil shipments promptly Monday morning.

Protestors have already taken to the street, the military has been put on alert, and half of the opposition has withdrawn from the election process.

Ultimately Chavez's goal is win complete control over the congress, and approve constitutional changes that would keep him in power for life - or til 2050, in which case he will be 95 years old.   

Chavez spoke to a large crowd in Caracas on Friday about a possible sabotage during today's election of the country's oil fields and other government installations. He has ordered the army and other military units to be on full alert guarding these facilities.

He also threatened to expel CNN and other international broadcasters from the country if they publish election polls a week before the election, or before the polls close - broadcasting poll results a week before an election, or before the polls close on election day is against the law in Venezuela.  

Chavez speech also had others in his cross hairs, which include the elite citizens of Venezuela, American and European imperialists, and the King of Spain. Of course the protestors taking to the streets are surely on his list, and he has advised police to take strong counter-offensives against the opposition. And if some of the military are planning a possible coup, the deployment to guard the oil fields and other facilities might make that a little harder to carry out.

Today the vote for his referendum is a yes or no vote. Chavez told the crowd on Friday that "You know that those who vote 'yes' are voting for Chavez and those who vote 'no' are voting for George W. Bush," that's the true confrontation we are in."

Opposition parties are worried the election board could rig the vote. Possible rigging of the vote is not the only issue. Many of the opposition parties have already withdraw from today's election because of a dispute over electronic voting machines. (Ah yes, we remember those same machines from our last election) A fourth party just recently announced it was also withdrawing, which means that more than half of the opposition has pulled out.

Back in 2005, opponents made the disastrous decision to boycott the legislative elections which allowed pro-Chavez slate to take control. Will history repeat itself?