CARACAS, Tuesday March 18, 2008 | Update
Minister of Energy and Petroleum and CEO of state oil firm
Pdvsa Rafael Ramírez Tuesday said the ruling issued by
a London court against US oil major Exxon Mobil "is 100 percent
favorable for Venezuela."
"The whole country should know that the decision is 100 percent
favorable to Venezuela's allegations, and could say that we
have defeated Exxon Mobil in the London court," Ramírez
added.
The minister claimed that the decision shows that Exxon Mobil's
arguments were disallowed. Ramírez stressed that a summary
of the ruling would be published on Tuesday, while the full
decision would be disclosed next Thursday.
"We reserve the right to do anything we may deem appropriate
to seek compensation for our country, our corporation. But
since these are strictly legal issues, we have to wait until
Thursday, when the judge's ruling will be published."
According to Ramírez, the decision "revokes any action
by Exxon Mobil to freeze our assets, the pressure on international
banks, the whole maneuver implemented worldwide. Above all,
this international manipulation that was even supported domestically
against our country's interests has been dismantled."
10:07 AM. DIPLOMACY. Admired by the Colombian guerrilla after his coup attempt in 1992, the then lieutenant colonel Hugo Chávez Frías received financial support by the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) for his projects after his capture that year. This mostly explains the relationship and "debt" between the parties, as revealed by a paper of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) of the United Kingdom.