"100 years ago, a group of Venezuelans in the state of Táchira began the small-scale commercial exploitation of oil." "But the real avalanche of companies and individuals interested in our oil didn't appear until the explosion of the well "Barrosos Number 2 "" "which showed the enormous oil potential of_Venezuela." "I believe that throughout the years, in the first place, the Creole Company has behaved in proper accordance with Venezuelan laws." "The issue of oil ... well oil can't be separated from politics." "Politics and oil, oil and politics, geopolitics ..." "And it's our desire to keep on going in the same way" "40 years ago, due to Barroso's oil boom, Cabimas was transformed into the principal oil center of the county El Barroso spat out around 100.OOO barrels a day." "This was the start of the oil wealth." ""Pozo Muerto" (Dead Well) is filmed in an oil town created by one of the oil companies." "Cabimas made the oil companies rich and filled the coffers of the nation;" "now, they're digging its grave." "The film was subversive at the time." "Consequently it didn't have the impact that it should or could have had." "20 years already." "We have been living here for 20 years." "Our ancestors lived off fishing." "Fish from Lake Maracaibo (Lake Coquibacoa)." "and they still sustain themselves off these fish." "And with the oil, came the chemicals that harmed the fish." "The shrimp were lost, all the good fish were lost." "it was lost." "All of that harvest was lost." "Regarding oil, I think they're exploiting too much." "And they don't help the people out." "No hope." "We don't have anyone left to talk to." "We can't talk to the governor, the mayor, or anyone." "Its just the same old thing." "Out here, there's nothing, nothing nothing." "It's horrible." "Just as you see." "Even less ... if we don't have 500,000 or 1,000,000 bolivares in hand, they don't give us work at PDVSA." "Not even in cleaning." "In an emporium of wealth, the people lived in the depths of misery" "And always with the hope that they might get some work." "It was a typical classist relationship, but fundamentally colonialist." "I just want to say one thing." "Around here it's said that PDVSA belongs to the people." "But those working least -- it's us, the people." "There are only 160 jobs they've promised us, and we are 1,300 people waiting out here." "Well friend, you'd think I'd already have gotten work with one of the oil companies." "But the truth is, I've come back here every day, and have lost hope with this" ""come back tomorrow, came back later come back tomorrow come back later ..."" "We have to wait until 2 in the afternoon for their response, that's what the management came down here to say." "This beautiful CNB follows the same path." "The CNB goes backwards and so does Venezuela." "The CNB goes backwards, Venezuela does the same." "What do you know, it's the same old thing, on the state fl9 of Iulia." "American in Cabimas, American in La Rosa, American in Cabimas, American in La Rosa." "Don't be afraid, my friend,of the _revolution." "Be afraid of the gringos who arm the conspiracy, be afraid of the gringos who arm the conspiracy." "It's being talked about here on the east coast of Lake Maracaibo, among the workers, that unions have begun charging for jobs -- from 1 to 1,5 million bolivares." "To get work in the company, you have to pay them." "Ah, they put these jobs up for sale to people who don't even have a way to pay and they sell them." "The people pawn themselves and make sacrifices to be able to work." "We don't want to continue in this corruption." "The ones benefiting from PDVSA now are the contractors." "And why?" "Because of this racket." "Because they are the people of power and money." "Workers' power?" "In these oil contracts it's the union that rules." "They tell you: "Need a job?" "Give me 500,000 bolivares and I'll get you that chance_'" "Or, "Give me 1.000.000 and I'll get you the job_'" "The oil belongs to us." "And if the oil belongs to us -- if PDVSA, as the very President says, belongs to us --well then, it should benefit us." "I've been here approximately 1 1 years." "First we came, later they built the plant." "The firemen came, looking at and measuring the distance of the plant to the houses." "Every 3 or 4 months there are oil spills here." "When they were going to build the plant my father-in-law was out farming and they came up and said "Look, all this is ours, this is PDVSA's, we're going to build here because we need the land_'" "The constitution says that the land belongs to those who farm on it." "Right?" "Here I had crops, good harvests of yucca and banana." "The station killed everything." "The gas has affected the whole harvest, the whole crop." "And if it's affected the whole harvest and the whole crop, what's it doing to us?" "As of 2 or 3 years ago, that flare was alight all the time." "And when the wind hit, the fumes were really strong over here." "Those strong fumes affect me a lot, they asphyxiate me." "If you can't leave, you have to shut yourself indoors, because the smell is too strong." "They started to build and we asked what they were going to do here." "They told us they were building a station." "We asked if they were going to relocate us, and the engineer said yes, but up till now we haven't received any response." "Because of the fumes from that plant, she had an abortion." "The doctor told me that the baby had been dead for 5 or 6 days, and that this was going to give me septicemia." "He saw that the baby had no brain, and he said this was a result of gas pollution from the plant." "In the course of our professional practice we see quite frequently fetuses with defects, among them anencephaly (no brain)." "I did my internship in gyno-obstetrics at this very hospital." "Today I'm the director but then I was a junior doctor here, frequently we attended to births of babies with this pathology quite scary in retrospect." "We've noted an estimated 3 cases a month." "It is suggested that there is a relation with the proximity of the women's homes to the gas flares." "The medical record I got from Pedro Garcia Clara Hospital... well, they told me the report had been totally changed." "From what I had told them, and what the doctor had written down perhaps out of fear of affecting PDVSA." "Because I know that to confront PDVSA is like taking on the big monster of the big screen, so to speak." "There was an investigation into this, but I understand that the doctor who did it, was in a way ..." "Let's not say intimidated ... but he did it in a way so that it wouldn't receive the proper publicity it deserved due to the fact that this area really lives off oil." "And so it wasn't of primary interest to the company or even to the local politicians, and in the end nothing consequential became of it." "Because of this, the doctor told me not to even think about getting pregnant again, because I would just end up the same way Seeing myself in that situation, during a sterilization campaign at the hospital, I went in and got myself sterilized." "At the end of this piece of land was the house of Mr Medina." "They were a family probably of Paraujano origin, indigenous." "They could have arrived here, to this site now known as El Hornito, long before the 20th century" "The site of El Hornito was made up of people who were expelled from the beach front when the petrochemical plant was installed there around 196$-69." "So these people unknowingly coexisted next to a highly risky industry, which has among its characteristics that everything around is forced to breathe its toxic gaseous emissions, that are part of any petrochemical plant in the world." "Whenever there are large escapes of gases, the community has to abandon the town." "Everybody in the town has to leave running." "Along this road is where the mercurial pools were, where they dumped the mercury-laden mud waste from the chloroform plant." "Right there, on the other side of the fence that surely doesn't contain all the possible risks." "And just as we are right now breathing the fumes, the community was constantly breathing this air" "The community organized when they became conscious of the danger of living next to a petrochemical plant," "and they began to investigate the epidemiology in the community." "We had 14 cases of congenital defects ranging from hydrocephalus to anencephaly;" "and from skin problems, to lung and liver cancer as the main causes of death." "Those were the elements that made up the common denominator of the people." "The average life expectancy of the residents of El Hornito never surpassed 55 years." "When the community understood their rights and saw them violated they also realized it was their duty to fight back." "All the consequences of the petrochemical sector_ which grew here to become an emblem for the county and earn loads of foreign currency" " came at the expense of the population of El Hornito." "Thus imposed are the prerogatives of a government who says," ""Alright, what comes first is what we want, then the people_'" "This was brought to the press, they took it to the radio, they went eve_here." "PDVSA responded by saying that it simply wasn't true." "PDVSA said it was the community's bad hygiene, that they liked to burn rubbish in their patios, and that the petrochemical plant was not the problem." "All along, the University Of Iulia was publishing research or preparing scientific arguments so that PEQUIVEN (Petroleum and Chemicals of Venezuela) could say that we had nothing to complain about, that we were just a bunch of dirty slobs who didn't bathe and that's why we were sick." "Here is the El Hornito Cultural Center." "This is where the community met." "it was a head-on struggle against PDVSA." "No one need obey an immoral order or law" "They decided on 2 main objectives:" "a dignified relocation, and compensation and sanitary treatment for those affected by the pollution." "We did succeed in getting a North American organization to come down here." "They took samples of hair, skin, and other body parts to document the effects of pollution generated by the petrochemical plant." "After doing all of those studies, their report stayed locked away in a court." "it's still sleeping in the archives of a law court in Cabimas." "On August 14th, 1995, they ordered PEQUIVEN to resettle us." "We came here with the promise that they were going to do the medical exams after we arrived." "That never happened." "So we lost the opportunity to know the real causes for which the people of El Hornito died." "In the 10 years since we've relocated, all the chronically ill have died." "Of all the cases with congenital defects, we only have 2 children left." "In this case, the Venezuelan state never assumed the real cost of what they did to us." "You'd better stop filming." "Why should we stop filming?" "Because you are inside the boundaries of the complex. I'm calling PEQUIVEN." "After the people had finished relocating," "PEQUIVEN made sure that no memory of the old population of El Hornito would survive." "They completely bulldozed all the homes." "They didn't even leave a rock on top of a rock, nor the facade of the buildings -- with the exception of the school, the church, and the cultural center that was the headquarters of the neighborhood association." "Please leave this zone." "When there wasn't any work an_here, the people from El Hornito always had ways to satisfy their basic needs." "They'd been artisans, potters, fishermen, farmers." "We left behind some 124.OOO trees in production at El Hornito." "Of the 210 families who moved from El Hornito, now came 210 unemployed families." "Here, the people of El Hornito are dying at the door of PEQUIVEN looking for a job." "They live at the mayor's office begging for a job, but there just aren't any" "Our lands simply don't allow for the production that we had there." "There are still people who cry for the old environment, because we used to live in a garden." "Here, we've come to live in a desert." "Wherever we go we tell the people that what happened to this community will happen again at Jóse, and an_here a petrochemical complex is built." "Simply because they don't bother to do the environmental impact studies." "Or when they do, like in El Hornito during the industrial expansion with 4 or 5 other companies, those studies got locked up in a drawer" "Lucia Antillano has said that there were 250 cases of ecological crimes in the nation, in the entire county -- and more than half of them were the responsibility of the _Venezuelan state." "So how do you fight a state, where when you denounce the state, that same state puts itself in charge of verifying whether or not you have rights?" "it's like them paying themselves..." "and then they keep the change." "So where are we going to stop with all this?" "The people stay in a corner" "As for the big capitalists, they deny the people's rights." "The voice of centuries of our indigenous brothers has its place in the New_Venezuela." "The millennial stature of the first _Venezuelans is guaranteed within our constitution." "indigenous America lives." "Our America will forever be indigenous." "Brothers Japeria, brothers VMyúu, brothersAlijuna, and brothersAñú." "We are our Mother Earth, this land is our mother." "We can't let them take her from us." "This meeting that you see here right now we're going to do again in Caracas, in front of Miraflores, where we'll find our president Hugo Chávez." "There are many spots, there's one up ahead and another over there." "Wherever there's coal." "Where else are they going to get it?" "This extra one signifies another point." "This lake has some of those, deep down." "In the very lake, there." "This is the lake we drink from, they'll take it, this place that benefits the community" "Which is why we can't accept that." "Carbones de Guasare presents its project to the world with a great sentiment of preserving the environment, of conserving people, of improving the quality of life for the people as well as the communities in the vicinity, by providing employment positions" "for families here, in this way guaranteeing a nice and beautiful project, scraping the soil off the earth to obtain a mineral that will be transformed into energy in other countries, for the development and growth of Venezuela, and the world." "30 years living at this site.And since when have they come here?" "_'re Wayúu." "The businessmen who come are gringos, they're from Spain, they're from ..." "I don't even know where." "We are the authentic, absolute owners of these lands, since more than 1.500 years." "That's the argument I see, that they're starving, or are in need ... the argument of the indigenous people, arriving to the site." "I'd say, those who don't agree, should take a bite of cheese with coal to see what that tastes like." "What happened in Iraq we don't want to see happen here." "Because over there, with tricks and lies -- right?" "Studies that they did ..." "all of which based on lies." "I hope that what happened in Iraq doesn't happen here -- through this material, coal." "NO TO COAL!" "The small group opposing the project is badly oriented." "Which is to say, they have little knowledge." "Sadly, they have a low level of culture." "This is an inheritance left to us by our ancestors." "And we have to fight." "They couldn't fight, but we can, and we're going to fight --with all of our courage." "Come what may, we're going to fight." "The only way they're taking this, is to kill us all." "The Perijá Mountains form the natural boundary between Venezuela and Colombia." "In this mountain range are the coal lots that have been handed over in concessions to private capital, and to Corpozulia." "There are also the indigenous communities, there are freshwater sources, and there are the western forests of this county" "Let's go talk to the owner" "How can they think we're going to lose such beauty huh?" "Where are the small farmers going to go with their cows, with their donkeys?" "Doctor Montilla came to my house and bought a sheep for Christmas." "That's all ... he was great friends with us." "Good day." "Don't film me please." "You're a reporter?" "Are you also a reporter?" "Mister Montilla." "Is it true that a machine already entered through here I don't know exactly where it arrived -- to build a road?" "ls it true that the same company has already entered here?" "Yes, of course." "They came with machines to work on the road, and they've already drilled 8 or 9 mills inside this area." "Here inside." "Mister Brendel, the manager of the company also tells me that he'd like to buy the farm for coal mining." "But leave this area as a school ... for children." "For children." "But what children are going to be here?" "For children of whom?" "if their intention is to remove everyone, like they drove out all the animals:" ""go on, get out of here_' No." "We can't allow that to happen." "Well, that can only be done by the high government." "I don't have any decision-making power_ I'd just like to sell." "If the government wants to buy ... wonderful." "But I want to sell." "You're the leaders?" "No no, we're all leaders." "All the small farmers." "Exactly, but there is always a representative, right?" "I live in the Paraíso sector_" "The lady..." "Alright then, put the lady's name right there." "This is just to take note of and make a radiogram, just a little thing." "it'll stay between us, that's normal." "like the type of thing we do every day, just between us, a regular thing." "Oh, alright." "Ángela González." "(hidden camera)" "But let me tell you." "Do you know that this is a guerrilla zone?" "You have to understand, we're not in the city" "You don't know_ among those who are here, which one is a guerrilla." "There could be four guerrillas right no_ within those who are here." "Just so you know, and it's not a lie." "You don't know which one of them has a gun under the ... what do you call that thing they put on?" "Corpozulia and much of the government try to discredit the environmental groups by calling them counter-revolutionaries -- or even worse, terrorist groups." "This implies, under the new anti-terrorist legislation, that if 2 people have a meeting in a house, it can be raided if the state considers it a "dangerous" meeting." "Up till now they've been displaced to open the north mine of Carbones de Guajira, and Paso Diablo." "They displaced various communities of_yúu." "Many of those Wayúu nowadays live towards El Socuy, El Maché, and Cachirí." "(Speaking in VMyúu)" "He says he's going to tell a story about the life of those in Guasare, that he hopes doesn't happen here in Cachirí." "What they lived over there ..." "that people came, and promised things, over there in Guasare, where many of their cattle had died, and they were then pushed aside." "This is what he doesn't want happening here." "They were promised roads, schools, hospitals ... many promises, so that they would agree to turn over their lands and allow the coal exploitation." "Once they accepted the proposal with all those promises, they never delivered anything." "The people were pushed aside, all their cows died, and the company never kept their promises." "All they were offered was 300.OOO bolivares (US$120) for their lands." "And they assured them they would find other properties at the same price, which they never could get with the 300.OOO." "They had to sell 20 cows to raise money just so they could move or buy other properties." "They weren't able to do anything with the money they'd been given, or the promises made." "Where the concessions are located, where the mining activity is being planned, the population is very dispersed." "Currently, with the mines they plan to open in El Socuy, El Maché, and Cachirí, there are approximately 350 Wayúu families, plus small farmers, and there are also some large cattle ranches." "it's a small number, which is not to say that it isn't worrisome." "What we want to say with this, is that in the area of the concessions ... well, perhaps there may exist ... the need to relocate some of the inhabitants, of the few that are there." "So 10 years after all that happened, the company wants to come and exploit again, where they are now" "They say they're tired of this, as if it were some kind of curse." "He says the President should see what's happening." "Because he said once that the indigenous population is behind him, that many were, and still are ..." "and, please not to let this happen." "So (they say) here we are, in peace and quiet, and now they're going to kick us out." "Where are we supposed to go?" "We can't go any higher up into the mountains because that's where the paramilitaries are, that's where they grow the coca, the marijuana -- it's a very violent area." "The idea would be to create employment opportunities, economic activity that permits subsistence in the area." "it wouldn'tjust be taking things away and leaving nothing behind." "The idea is not to create coal mining ghost towns that die out in 50 or 60 years." "The idea is to create a sustainable development." "I don't understand in what sense this is a sustainable development, that won't create ghost towns." "it's a very general concept, like you said." "I think about it, it seems good, and maybe I don't see it." "I'd love to have a tangible example." "And what are they going to live off of?" "Well, they'll become vendors, selling sweets, street sweepers, and those who live off the trash." "They'll become trash people." "The 1999 Bolivarian Constitution gives a number of rights to the people, very specifically to indigenous peoples, fishing communities, small farmers;" "also some articles talk about the environment, environmental protection, and even of the model that development has to be sustainable." "All of that is in the constitution." "Until now it hasn't materialized, with the exception of the indigenous lands demarcation law" "They made the law, but are still seeking its implementation." "So it has stopped, like I said, because of conflicting interests: the indigenous lands, where they live and which need to be demarcated, are also sought after by the mining transnationals." "This government, in April of 2004, handed over to a Chilean company called Carbones de Perijá Corp., 12.OOO new hectares of Barí territory" "In other words, this government has continued with the policies of the so-called" ""4th Republic " of handing over indigenous territories, waters, forests and biodiversity to the transnationals." "Carbozulia is an affiliate of Corpozulia, the company charged with developing the coal industry in the western part of Venezuelan." "Here is the president of Corpozulia." "I congratulate you; you're doing a tremendous job." "Proud of you buddy." "Brother and friend: my general." "Those of us with years in this struggle against the mines -- with the aim of saving the Sierra de Perijá and indigenous lands -- have never seen a political context so favorable to the mining industry so blind to human rights," "indigenous rights, and environmental rights." "I want to announce, my commander, that this year Carbozulia will declare 20.OOO.OOO dollars in dividends, which will be incorporated into the development fund for the Iulian region." "Wow!" "20.OOO.OOO dollars." "Carbozulia." "With the opening of the new mines we will be going from $.300.OOO tons of production to 39.OOO.OOO tons of production." "The internal consumption of coal in Venezuela is tiny about 100.OOO tons." "Our coal is used principally in thermoelectric plants, for the electricity markets of the eastern coast of the United States, on the Gulf of Mexico, and in Europe." "We simply extract it, grind it up to size, then it's exported." "That letter from Mayor Enrique Lozada arrived." "it finally arrived." "From the mayor's office, right?" "Republic of Venezuelan, Cachirí Parish Council," "Monseñor Marcosario Godoy Parroquial, Mara municipality, lulia state, Cachirí." "November 27, 2004." "Invitation." "The entire community is invited to a meeting at the Caney Family Center." "Point of discussion: support to the mining companies that will be installed in the" "Monseñor Marcosario Godoy Parish, which are:" "Socuy Mine, Cachirí Mine, Caño Seco Coal." "And here's his name without a signature:" "Sirimo Moreno Chourio, President." "(hidden camera)" "This is a consultation that we're going to do for the community." "This is to draw support for the mining projects." "Good day, how are you Angela, nice to meet you, Juan Rojas." "Look, me as an institution, INGEOMINAS -- if they're going to film, I'm leaving." "Because I represent an institution, and I'm going to give my position." "And because I'm here in Maracaibo and my boss is in Caracas, who is with the Minister of Energy and Mines, he's going to see my position, and is going to say let's fire him, because I didn't give proper authorization." "Do you understand?" "Despite lengthy discussion about the rights to information, we were prohibited from filming the meeting." "The responsibility calls on us, such that before the situation becomes undesirable, we should open a nationwide debate on this issue." "2 or 3 days ago on the Aporrea web page, I saw an invitation to a presentation about the coal program in Iulia." "Hey, in Caracas, a presentation about the coal program in Iulia where l had spent 7 years of my life, because I actively participated in the creation" "of the Iulia coal company." "I had to go, if only to listen." "it impacted me a lot, because they showed some holes left by the coal exploitation, like what I had simulated on the computer in '$$." "You design how it will go about eating away at the earth, how the shovel goes on digging and digging and digging ... and what's left are those holes." "You can simulate this on compute_ and sure, I had simulated it on a computer, and put it on paper_" "But now I've just seen real photographs of a real hole." "And it's a tremendous hole left there." "It really broke my heart." "I'm not an ecologist, but as a citizen of the planet -- and as an engineer I think we should pay attention to this." "if assets and liabilities are not balancing out because the true costs outweigh the benefits, then it is time to rethink this." "And this is the time to be rethinking this." "Right now when we have a country with a revolutionary government." "We are in a process of change and transformation, and change and transformation also happens when engineers and technicians see things, not just under a technocratic world-view_ but under a human world-view as well." "One has to say, alright, Let's put things on a balance:" "how necessary and how beneficial would it be for the county to invest resources into coal exploitation?" "Shouldn't we be reviewing instead, for example, the issue of Orimulsion?" "First of all, it filled me with pride to see a group of Venezuelans so young and highly qualified." "They explained to me a few things about Orimulsion, which really should be looked into." "The majority of our crude is extra-heavy_" "We have 270 thousand million barrels in the region of the Orinoco Basin." "The idea is basically to take that highly viscous, extra-heavy crude and disperse it in the form of drops through a continuous injection of water" "its importance, as you can see, is also because this fuel was developed by Venezuelan professionals." "It is a definitively Venezuelan patent." "Of course, there is also an environmental advantage to Orimulsion as a fuel." "it burns completely and therefore the emissions of nitrogen oxides into the atmosphere is minimal in comparison with coal or fuel-oil." "There's only 1 plant, located in the south of the state of Monagas, in Morichal oil field." "This year we've been producing well below capacity in relation to the capacity that we have installed." "These are governmental decisions, and we just conform to the directives they give us." "Regrettably, there was no consultation with the workers in taking the decision to eliminate the business of Orimulsion, as such." "Here's the area where the plant for dehydration and desalinization of crude is to be built." "The Chinese are building it." "The crude will then be transferred to Jóse refinery and in Jóse we'll be, or rather the Chinese will be producing Orimulsion, just as we're seeing here, in our own plant." "Wouldn't it better for PDVSA to produce Orimulsion directly and then supply the finished product to the Chinese?" "Yeah, like I said -- these are government-level negotiations." "And I'll keep to myself the reason for such a deal." "We started to organize workers forums, where we asked for a more detailed explanation about what was happening and whether Orimulsion would be phased out or not, and whether our own assessment of its potential and what we were doing, was justified or not." "How we evaluate this, or how best to enhance the value of this reserve of crude." "As an internal development, we can do great projects at the national level, if only we could move towards the concept of selling it as finished energy" "In the beginning, it was said that Orimulsion would compete with coal." "They began to sell it at a disproportionately Low price, in comparison with the cost of a kilowatt hour of electricity sold in a developed county or even other Latin American countries," "One realizes that they're effectively giving the reserves away" "The business could be refocused, not to sell Orimulsion and much less compete with the coal industry but rather to produce and sell the electricity directly at solidarity prices to Latin American countries, without this representing a sacrifice of value to the nation of_Venezuela." "The available technologies of thermoelectric plants today, can be developed perfectly within _Venezuela through Orimulsion." "We see this as a fundamental tool to encourage Latin American integration, as the President of the Republic is proposing." "In Puerto de la Cruz, we did a presentation to management of the Ministry of Energy and Mines, so they do have knowledge of this proposal we're working on." "Sadly, on some levels of government and within the same industry perhaps due to institutional embarrassment or some other reason," "they don't want to open this up to debate." "They say it's already a closed case, and that Orimulsion will be phased out." "it's the theorist Momer, right, who says Orimulsion is not really negotiable, that it's not productive." "Which is to say, they're only Looking at the mercantilist aspect of it, and not the political or ideological problem that's implicit in this proposal." "Maybe it would be more productive from a commercial point of view, to sell this as "enhanced crude_'" "But in order to develop a sovereign model for our resources, we should realize the potential of Orimulsion right now" "The issue of oil ... well oil can't be separated from politics." "Politics and oil, oil and politics, the geopolitics..." "$OO/o of the oil tankers are for the USA, the United States." "Almost 900/o of the oil production is exported in the form of crude and refined products." "The oil policy in Venezuela is totally clear -- as I explained Earlier_," "Venezuela is in on the path to increase its capacity of production for present and future world energy requirements, and of course within these, the most important is the case of the United States." "There is no change in this policy" "In the last 24 years, the monopolistic oil companies have taken out $ times the net total investment made in _Venezuela." "The looting by North American capital in Venezuela has financed to a considerable and unsuspecting degree, the economic development of the US, and their monopolistic investments in other parts of the world." "Something the oil workers have told me, should it come to pass, to let the people of the United States know that regrettably, not one more drop of oil will arrive from Venezuela." "Not a single drop more!" "Our main client is the United States -- has been the United States, is the United States, and will be the United States." "I don't agree with the concept that we should be a trusted supplier of oil etc., etc." "The United States has evidently shown itself to be an enemy of the Venezuelan people." "On one occasion, we oil workers demonstrated at the US embassy, along with 2.OOO other workers, telling them that if they continued with the aggressions against the _Venezuelan people, we weren't going to ship them any more oil." "This is the real sense of protagonism that our constitution establishes." "We're in line with that concept." "For the United States, energy and oil are problems of security." "For us, it's a problem of sovereignty." "On August 29, 1975, by law the oil industrial was nationalized along with all the commercialization of hydrocarbons." "Petroleum of Venezuela (PDVSA) was formed the next day, as the holding company to the nationalized industry" "On January 1, 1976, this process of national aspirations culminated, in compliance with the constitution and the law and carried out with moderation, seriousness, and a sense of justice." "There was a representative from Standard Oil Company, who once said that among his best deals were the huge dividends they received from Venezuela's oil nationalization." "The nationalization as dictated by President Carlos Andres Pérez was a joke." "it was a political springboard that transformed him into a leader throughout Latin America." "But it was also the main point of entrance for so-called service companies, nowadays known as Haliburton, Schlumberger ..." "they were able to enter the county and they continue to reap multi-billion dollar profits in oil contracts for drilling, registration of wells, maintenance work, etc." "I ask myself, why were we doing this here?" "I ask myself, why don't we adjust our laws to take these contracts away from those people?" "I'm preoccupied by all of those negotiations that PDVSA is making with the multinational oil companies." "That's an enemy within, right alongside us." "The virtue and honor..." "Satellite link with the Delta Platform." "Hugo Chavez, good morning ... an historic broadcast, from the marine platform "Archers 1_'" "We're here, Mister President, with the vice-minister of hydrocarbons, Luis Merma." "The general manager of Chevron-Texaco is also accompanying us." "The drilling of the first well in block 2, with our transnational associates of the Chevron-_Texaco company." "We greet with special affection the presence of our good partners from Chevron-Texaco." "I have here at my side the president of Chevron-Texaco, an American company, Ali Moshiri." "Alright!" "Compatriots, that applause from here is for all of you over there!" "... under the operation agreement with the REPSOL corporation ..." "We have arrived at an agreement, so that China may begin to exploit 15 mature oil fields." "Addendum number 2 to the service operation agreement, covering the entire national territory of the Republic." "There, under the ground, is a reserve of nearly a thousand million barrels of oil." "We've also offered it to China, and they're very interested in starting to make deals like those we've made with other countries." "... Chevron-Texaco, and here are the rest who came out winners in this process." "We recognize the huge effort that the Ministry of Energy and Mines has made, together with PDVSA, in the implementation of the new policy of expanding the productive capacity of the county" "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year." "I don't know why they don'tjust rent this county out to the Yankees, people and all." "This way we would actually realize that this county doesn't belong to us, the _Venezuelans." "Venezuela -- now belongs to all!" "The new PDVSA belongs to the _people" "What we have here, is a free people!" "A sovereign fatherland!" "Why do they continue like that?" "In a county that has supposedly recuperated its sovereignty" "But in fact, the companies we're associated with in these projects are the ones financing the war in" "Iraq, in Afghanistan -- which we all know are oil wars." "During the oil strike, they sought out all the ways to sabotage our self-management in recuperating the company's operations." "This came to a standstill you couldn't hear anything h!" "ere." "All this was shut down, all these plants were stopped, every single one of them." "The production here on the Lake is about 120.OOO barrels a day_" "They only produced 60 or 70 barrels a day at the time of the strike." "We, in our contingency plan, went on with only 20/o of the normal workforce of PDVSA, went opening and activating plants, activating wells and flow stations." "This terminal, I feel proud to say, was considered the spearhead that broke the strike in December 2002, because from here we were able to ship all the crude that was detained, and avoid stopping production on the lake." "In fact we did it for 3 or4 months." "There were no managers, no security force to protect us, just some soldiers at the front gate as a deterrent." "But those who guarded and operated the installations, were the oil workers and the community" "Why do you think it hasn't been possible for the workers to maintain control over the company after those 3 months?" "We made a mistake." "We dedicated ourselves solely to what we knew: operating." "We didn't notice that we were also managing, that's what we were doing, although we didn't realize it." "Afterwards, all these people came and took over the new positions." "But we managed ourselves, we didn't have any bosses." "There was Mr Ali as General Director_ the regional directors, there was Mr Fredy Rodriguez and Mr. Luis Marin -- the rest was a compact working group, without any distinction in payroll, or ranks, or anything -- everybody just gallivanting along, working, getting everything done." "There were no rules; we put aside the regulations, because there was one priority:" "to get the operation rolling." "We didn't watch our backs, we were focused solely on the operations, and when we did finally notice ..." "in no time we had a bunch of bosses again." "This is your boss, this is your boss, this is you boss, and bam!" "Ready!" "After the strike, one could see a change in the union movement." "In any case the union bosses went on gaining ground, including the new ones coming in, and these guys, with the same names as before, and even with the same people as before, are currently discussing our collective contract." "The collective contract has been the same for 50 years, they simply changed the numerals." "A raise in wages, an increase of benefits; but the content doesn't change." "I say that what our collective contract needs now isn't numerals, rather what needs to change is the content." "Its content should be aligned with the process we're going through right now Collective bargaining should seek out more worker participation in the management decisions regarding our oil." "But these gentlemen, supposed revolutionaries in our unions now don't want participation." "They prefer to negotiate a collective contract behind closed doors that no one knows about, then just update us by email:" ""They approved 15 clauses" ..." "there's no participation from the workers." "Not in collective bargaining, nor in formulating the PDVSA business plans, nor in the budget, not even community relations." "Now with the new PDVSA, with this new phase of PDVSA, who's in charge of making sure that what happened before doesn't happen again?" "Everybody." "The national government, the national executive, the national assembly the people." "And when I say everyone, one can't take that literally, it has to be taken in a figurative sense." "Because the fisherman from my town, who goes out every day at four in the morning to fish, we can't imagine him going to the oil industry headquarters in Caracas and making it into the international relations department to see what they're doing." "Neither in 2002, nor in 2003 have the financial statements of PDVSA been submitted, which is exactly what would allow us to evaluate how the company has been managed." "There are no emotions in numbers, numbers cannot lie.And where there's a lot of money and a lot of interests, and where there's a lack of control, what emerges is chaos." "I could ask, if it's really that way, why do we keep making profits?" "Well, it's like our friend Rockefeller said in his time:" "that a badly managed oil company is still the second-best business in the world." "The business plans being made here at PDVSA are discussed upstairs, they're state secrets." "I don't think PDVSA truly belongs to all of us yet." "When I as a worker would know about the business plans, when the community would know what those business plans are, and when we would be able to participate in the design of those business plans I'd say that in that moment, PDVSA would belong to all." "Here it is, this is 2$." "Well number 2$." "They get lost in all that wealth." "All they do is take and take and take, and never give back." "Go on and take a good look -- you should come by the house where l live." "Ah, okay!" "Arelia, tie up the dogs." "What are you cooking?" "This is all we have here ... the oil is ours and others come and take it." "They come and take it far away from the Delta Amacuro." "The elected representatives here, they don't pay attention to you." "Look at how it is around here." "We're so rich in everything, rich in trash." "Just look around." "All this rubber and crap to gather up." "There are some 200 wells here, in this community alone." "But they don't pay attention to us, nothing." "Nor to the indigenous, when they ask for help." "The indigenous people get by collecting plastic, bottles, aluminium, iron to sell." "They eat here too, the leftovers." "Because the politicians don't pay attention to them." "If you're mixed race, you can get out and work." "You can buy your own food." "But the indigenous, how do they get out?" "Those people are indigenous." "This is missing a roller The mayor doesn't have one." "Well should I tell the truth or not?" "Yes, tell the truth." "The truth or no?" "Okay, I'll tell the truth." "Because of the missing roller this machine is out of order" "For 2 years already it's been out of commission, due to the rolle_" "This is the house of the person who takes care of the machiney for the mayor." "But they don't even take care of the caretaker nor do they care about what they've got." "As you can see, we live like animals here." "The Maraiza too live like animals, it's true." "Maraiza are the Warão (the indigenous group of the Delta)." "As a Venezuelan, I would like that they are also looked afte_" "That they get help." "This is my room." "Nelson's room" " and the family bed." "Um, the bed's kind of unmade ... here are some clothes, the bed of my oldest son." "I live off the aluminium, the metal, the iron, all that stuff." "No!" "First over here." "The food." "Gorgeous." "The government comes around, they say "l'm going to get an incinerator put in "" "the other one comes and says "l'm going to do something good for you, take these 4 or 5 bags of food, take a little money, vote for me, how's it going, I'll get the job done' It's pure bullshit, get it?" "If we could all just go along with the mentality of our president, because he has a good mentality with respect to the poor I'm with him 100 percent on that." "But he doesn't have enough time to attend to all these little details." "But he needs to get moving a little, because it seems the bugs are getting in grabbing up everything left on the ground ..." "Oh, and how they pump, how they suck out all those barrels and ssssssss, and what of the cash -- nothing for Venezuela." "Or at least for the Delta Amacuro, one of the most important sources around." "I wanted to tell you, sometimes it gets me riled up, you know?" "it's given me the urge to go grab and punch out a few of those pipes, and blow all that up." "One can feel how they're sucking the blood out of the Delta and no one does anything about it." "This documentary was filmed in November and December, 2004." "To get answers regarding concerns expressed by those with whom we spoke, we requested interviews with:" "We also requested interviews with:" "No one responded to us." "English translation by:" "Cristian Guerrero and Sonya Angelica Diehn" "English subtitles DVD authoring by:" "Cristian Guerrero, Sonya Diehn, and Steev Hise" "Subtitled DVD: info@ouroil.org ouroil.org"