Chavez Reps for PR
Venezuela’s Chavez demanding independence for Puerto Rico
By Christopher Toothaker
Associated Press Writer
March 5, 2006
CARACAS, Venezuela –President Hugo Chavez accused the United States of attempting to foment the secession of an oil-rich region in western Venezuela on Sunday and demanded independence for the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico.
Chavez said U.S. officials were working behind the scenes with the governor of Zulia state, which is home to much of Venezuela’s all-important oil industry, to create a secession movement loyal to U.S. interests.
“The imperialists are there trying to give strength … trying to give form to a secessionist movement, of course, to take control of the great oil wealth there,” said Chavez, speaking during his weekly television and radio program “Hello President.”
Zulia state is governed by Manuel Rosales, an outspoken opponent of left-leaning Chavez. Rosales has rejected past accusations of his alleged involvement in conspiracies involving Zulia’s secession.
Chavez urged employees at Venezuela’s state-run oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA, to join the nation’s military reserve to help prepare for a possible attempt by foreign troops to seize oil refineries, then asked Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez how many people work at PDVSA.
“We have 34,000 workers,” Ramirez said.
“That’s three (military) divisions,” replied Chavez, a former army lieutenant colonel. “Every PDVSA worker should become a reservist.”
Chavez, who accuses U.S. President George W. Bush of backing efforts to topple his government, also condemned the killing of Puerto Rican nationalist Filiberto Ojeda and encouraged residents of Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory of 4 million people, to fight for independence.
“While (U.S.) imperialism wants to divide Venezuela in parts, we are raising the flag of independence for our beloved Puerto Rico,” Chavez said. “The time has come for Puerto Rico to be independent. How long are we going to have a colony there in Puerto Rico?”
Puerto Rico has been a commonwealth since 1952. Puerto Ricans voted to keep that status by rejecting statehood in nonbinding referendums in 1967, 1993 and 1998.
Most Puerto Ricans favor the island’s current status.
Chavez condemned the September killing of Ojeda, who was shot by FBI agents during a raid to arrest him for the 1983 robbery of $7.2 million in West Hartford, Conn. Ojeda used the robbery to help fund his independence activities.
“The FBI assassinated him. They entered a house, shooting, where he was and he was wounded, but he could have been saved,” said Chavez.
The FBI has said that its agents did not enter the house until almost 24 hours after the shooting because of fears that Ojeda had rigged it with explosives, and had awaited the arrival of an investigative team from Virginia. An autopsy has shown that Ojeda, who was shot once in the shoulder, might have survived if he had received immediate medical care.
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