Venezuela’s colourful president Hugo Chavez issued a conditional appeal to investors in a rambling speech during which he also boasted of being able to push oil prices up to $90 a barrel.
In a two-hour address Chavez wandered over a wide range of subjects intermingled with jokes and digressions on medicine and south American history. Smartly dressed in a dark suit and scarlet tie the Venezuelan leader ran through lists of statistics supporting the success of his “fresh” socialism and told assembled businessmen and women of his plans for further investment to improve the lives of his 26 million compatriots.
In order to increase crude output (“our oil production, Venezuela’s oil production”) Chavez has earmarked $74 billion of investments in drilling, refining and infrastructure projects for which he is seeking almost $20 billion of private or foreign cash. The new developments will boost capacity to a daily 5.8 million barrels in 2012 from 3.4 million barrels today.
“The foreign investment is important but we’re not dependent on it; it’s not indispensable but we open our arms to it,” Chavez told his audience. He continued with a warning that “nobody will come to Venezuela to lose money but nobody can come to crush Venezuelans like in the past.”
Chavez promised not to turn off the oil taps on America to avoid punishing citizens for President George W Bush’s actions while boasting that should he want to do so he could push crude prices up to $90 a barrel. He blamed capitalism for failing to invest sufficiently in refining capacity because the business has traditionally not been sufficiently profitable.
“The end of the cheap oil era has come,” Chavez prophesied. “The price is going to go up, it’s going to carry on going up, the OPEC countries can no longer reduce the price.” Crude futures slid below $70 yesterday as traders brushed off his bullish comments in the light of a generalized slump in commodity prices.
Chavez spoke at an event organized by non-profit making international relations group Canning House. The venue, amidst British government buildings in the heart of Westminster, highlighted the president’s refusal to meet representatives of prime minister Tony Blair.
He urged Britons not to fear his brand of socialism which he claimed is not a dogmatic but a “fresh” socialism for the 21st century. His listeners were invited to Venzuela to witness the free medical programmes on offer and told that Chavez’s government has cut poverty by 10 percentage points to 38%.
Inflation has probably now fallen to 9% from April’s 11.4% rate, Chavez said, while the economy grew at 9% in the first quarter. The president also boasted that Venezuela’s $30.4 billion in foreign exchange reserves are $10 billion above what his country needs.
As always, Chavez didn’t shy away from criticizing other leaders, attacking Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo for suggesting Venezuela needed more democracy. In his obligatory reference to Bush, Chavez joked “poor guy, every time he opens his mouth he loses 2% of his support. He ought to go back to his ranch and ride his horse until it’s time for him to go to the other world.”
Chavez’s speech was greeted by rapturous applause by those among his audience who had stuck it out to the end.