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Wanneer: 21/05/2014 - 22:22

“Chevron: The Bolivarian connection” is a report that the fabulous business expansion of transnational energy under the so called “Socialism of the XXI Century”, doubling its presence in Venezuela after the electoral victory of Hugo Chavez. Away from the propaganda that talks about “energy sovereignty” and “eco-socialism”, the country has deepened the role assigned by economic globalization: Insurance provider and reliable raw materials to the world energy market, regardless of the environmental and social consequences of the expansion of the extractive activity.

Why a report about Chevron in Venezuela?

May 21st is the day various social movements from around the world have chosen to stage a planetary day of action against Chevron. The objective is to demand that the United States- based oil company modifies its practices and admits responsibility for the serious crimes it has committed all over the planet during its history.

Venezuela has the largest oil and gas reserves of the region and has had a long-lived relationship with Chevron. Nevertheless, the ecological and social consequences of energy exploitation in Venezuela are not discussed, neither is the responsibility for the contamination and displacement of indigenous and peasant communities incurred by transnational companies which, since 1996 and following the industry's nationalization in 1976, participate as business partners [with the state]. This omission is in part due to Bolivarian government propaganda which uses the term "energy sovereignty" to describe the policy of associating, for periods of between 20 and 40 years, with companies like Chevron.

President Chavez called his project "socialista petrolero" [the oil worker socialist] and in his proposed plan for government, Plan Patria 2013 - 2019, he defined as an objective increasing oil production to 6 million barrels per day by the year 2019 and natural gas to 11,947 million cubic feet daily by the same year. By 2013, production was 3.7 3.7 million barrels of oil/day and 7 million cubic feet of gas/day. These objectives have been assumed by president Nicolas Maduro, requiring ever more and ever greater alliances with companies such as Chevron. The development model promoted by Bolivarianism is no different to those of previous governments: that being, to deepen the extractivist and primary resource-exporting character of the Venezuelan economy.

The eco-anarchist critique of energy exploitation in this country is not limited to demanding that the state's PDVSA be "controlled by its workers" or that companies such as Chevron leave Venezuela. Our vision is much grander; including the need to collectively build proposals for development beyond extraction that are both environmentally sustainable and socially just, as well as promoting individual freedom. Therefore we hope that this kind of document will stimulate debate and discussions along these lines.

READ ONLINE: http://issuu.com/ellibertario/docs/chevronvzla_english2
DOWNLOAD “Chevron: The bolivarian connection”: https://www.mediafire.com/?a4hn36jffk7c3lj