Britain's judicial terrorism against Venezuela

international | anti-capitalism | other press Monday February 11, 2008 18:39 by Miriam

Exxon Mobil plays filthy dirty

The British, Dutch and other court's have awarded the voracious Exxon Mobil a first round victory in a court decision which may lead to a savaging of Venezuelan investment in social programmes the benefit the poorest and most needy in that country.

"Caracas, February 8, 2008 (venezuelanalysis.com) - Venezuela's Energy Minister, Rafael Ramirez, characterised a series of court orders obtained by Exxon Mobil Corp. in Britain, the Netherlands, and the Dutch Antilles, freezing up to $12 billion in assets of Venezuelan state oil firm PDVSA, as "judicial terrorism," in a statement today.

The injunctions were solicited by Exxon in anticipation of an arbitration ruling by the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes over a compensation claim. As part of a drive to recover the nation's oil sovereignty the Venezuelan government nationalized Exxon's 41.7 percent stake in the Cerro Negro project in May last year with an offer for compensation. However, Exxon not satisfied, demanded arbitration. Although the U.S. oil giant has not specified how much it wants in compensation it said its investment in the project was valued at $750 million at the time the assets were expropriated."

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/3135