Rally this Wednesday February 20th, 5pm-6.30pm
3 Clements Inn WC2, nearest Tubes: Temple, Holborn
ExxonMobil, or Esso as it's known in Britain, is the world's biggest oil company and the second-largest corporation on the planet. It has made vast profits by exploiting people and land, displacing communities and contributing massively to global warming - which it denies is a problem - and is known as "the power behind George W Bush."
When Hugo Chávez was elected president of Venezuela nine years ago, he promised a shake-up of the oil industry to give the state a fairer share of the vast revenues. He has nationalised projects in the Orinoco basin, which has more oil than the whole of Saudi Arabia, giving multinationals a minority share. Almost all the oil companies have agreed to the new terms - but not ExxonMobil.
In the past few days, British, Dutch and US courts have accepted a compensation claim by ExxonMobil and frozen up to £12 billion worth of Venezuela's assets. Chávez responded by cutting off all oil supplies to the company and has publicly talked about stopping the flow to the US completely. The situation could easily escalate in an attempt to isolate and destabilise Venezuela - after all, George Bush has made overthrowing Chávez his number one priority before he leaves office.
Hands Off Venezuela is calling for all supporters to protest against ExxonMobil's provocative actions and tell them: Hands off Venezuela's oil! Join us outside its London offices this Wednesday (February 20th) from 5pm to 6.30pm, 3 Clements Inn WC2A, nearest Tubes: Temple, Holborn.
www.handsoffvenezuela.org
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