This past Wednesday, Venezuela assigned the rights to exploit a massive oil block to a consortium led by Chevron. Although Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, PDVSA, will retain a 60% stake in the revenues, the deal with Chevron is symbollically important. Is Chavez compromising his anti-U.S. stance as the going gets tough economically (Venezuela has had a very rough go of it this past year)? That’s what some are claiming. But Chavez can just point to PDVSA’s 60% stake, right?
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