Since I really went off on PDVSA’s Anzoategui oil spill the other day, allow me to quote in large part PDVSA’s statement on the issue.
PDVSA accelerates cleanup work in Bare areas
San Tomé.- The Faja Petrolífera del Orinoco’s Ayacucho División explained to the press from southern Anzoátegui that it cleanup efforts are currently ongoing at the site where an environmental event took place 5 July — that is, in Area 2 of Bare 4 — despite ongoing protests brought about by a group of professional destabilizers who live in the La Peña community.
The 10-barrel spill, which resulted from the use of a hacksaw on the tubing, affecting a 500-square-meter area of the El Cardumen (Fish School) ranch in Simón Rodríguez municipality of Anzoátegui state. The situation was attacked by the industry with the activation of a contingency plan. However, because of constant road closures and blockades against heavy machinery by groups of people, the cleanup efforts have been delayed…
Molero said professional agitators are responsible for creating unease in the communities to move public opinion and create a prejudice in the press…
And according to El Tiempo, of Puerto La Cruz, also in Anzoategui state, there are now arrest warrants out for a couple landowners in the area for supposed sabotage.
“The producers are using undocumented people of doubtful provenance in the village of La Peña and El Tigre to damage the pipelines. They are some professional agitators and employment slot brokers who refuse to follow the rules of the PDVSA HR system (Sisdem)”.
Who knows. When I hear the Chavez government mention sabotage I immediately get suspicious. But they seem to have a coherent story this time. If I got played by an anti-government communication strategy that was based on someone intentionally dumping oil into the plains of Anzoategui, all I can say is sorry — last thing I want to do is reward that sort of behaviour. This is why everyone should rely more on the local press rather than some dude 4000 km away from the story.
Still: The environmental groups that give Venezuela a pass on spills should still wake up.
