Which Candidate Will Speak About the 800 lb. Gorilla, Hugo Chavez?

By Mick Gregory

Are any of the presidential candidates honest enough to talk about the 800 lb. gorilla, Marxist dictator in our part of the world? I mean Hugo “The Boss” Chavez, of course.

“I said at the outset that the threat in Latin America is unprecedented. I say that because the Castros have a second tyrant and he has great wealth, from oil. We must stand just as firm against caudillos like Hugo Chavez, tutored by Fidel Castro. Chavez and Castro are brothers in blood, intent on personal gratification at the expense of their people. Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro have stolen the phrase – ‘Patria o muerte, venceremos.’ This phrase should not be used by dictators, but by liberators.

“There are two spheres of influence in the Western Hemisphere. One is dark, bellicose and spreads misery by denying people basic freedoms; the other shines like a powerful light, is peaceful and wants only for its people to live in liberty and prosper.

— Mitt Romney, Republican Presidential Candidate

Front runner, Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani’s law firm lobbies for Citgo Petroleum, which is owned and controlled by the Venezuelan state oil company and President Hugo Chavez, but the firm said on Wednesday that Giuliani had never worked on the account.

Is that all Mr. Giuliani has to say? How about, “I suggested we quit the Citgo account on moral, economic and human rights issues.”

Records filed at the Texas Ethics Commission showed the law firm, Houston-based Bracewell & Giuliani, may have received up to $170,000 from Citgo since 2005.

A spokeswoman for Giuliani’s campaign, which has been buoyed by recent opinion polls showing him leading his Republican rivals, declined to answer questions, but provided an e-mail statement denouncing Chavez. “Mayor Giuliani believes Hugo Chavez is not a friend of the US and his influence continues to grow because of our increasing reliance on foreign sources of oil,” the statement read.

It concluded with a call for developing alternative sources of fuel to replace foreign crude oil. Venezuela is the fourth-biggest oil supplier to the US. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, joined the law firm in 2005. The firm said its relationship with Citgo predated the hiring of Giuliani and he had never worked on the account.

“Rudy Giuliani has never had any involvement in this representation (of Citgo),” the firm said. “Our efforts on behalf of Citgo do not involve the company’s political profile in the US or elsewhere.”

Citgo spokesman David McCollum said: “I’m sure the former mayor of New York was not even aware his firm represented Citgo before the story came out.” He said Bracewell and Giuliani represented Citgo in dealings with the Texas legislature and state agencies.

Citgo’s image among US conservatives, who make up the core of Republican voters, has been dented by Chavez’s verbal attacks on Bush, whom he has called “the devil.” Last year the conservative group American Family Association called for a boycott of Citgo and 7-Eleven dropped Citgo as a petrol supplier, citing in part Chavez’s anti-US rhetoric.

There are lawsuits and criminal indictments building up on Citgo operations along the lines of price fixing, oil trade manipulation and EPA criminal violations.

That may be too much potential cash flow for Guliani to turn down. But if the man is a true leader, he will do what 7-Eleven did and cancel the Citgo deal.

Hugo Chavez is credited with reviving the OPEC cartel. Oil was approximately $12 a barrel when he took office in 1999. Today it is $57.50 a barrel after a high of $75+ last year.

Then, he uses Joe Kennedy to shill his “discounted oil for Democrats” as a public service promotion. What a pathetic voting block. He is actually buying votes for America’s socialists who hide behind the political party brand name Democratic Party. Chavez is a member of OPEC and continues to lobby for reduced oil production to keep the price of oil over $60 per barrel.

Is the New York Times, Washington Post or Houston Chronicle following up on this Marxist?

“The Boss” Chavez mentioned his friendship with “Carlos The Jackal” in front of his captive audience of OPEC oil ministers at the meeting in Caracas Venezuela last June.
You may remember that Carlos was behind a hit that resulted in the deaths of OPEC staff, but his plan was foiled, he wanted to kill several oil ministers.

Chavez is like a strange James Bond comic character. Yet, his company CITGO continues to operate in the United States and even trade oil futures from it’s Houston headquarters, where the Fifth floor PDVSA and Citgo executives work in a palace with bullet proof glass on a campus protected by tank-proof fencing and grassy knoll. Citgo’s trading room requires an iris scan to enter.

Are you OK with that, candidates?