And Venezuela is right next to the United States. It's very easy to get the oil, but Venezuela has always sold the oil to the United States. You can't eat oil. It's in the interest of Venezuela to sell oil to whoever pays money for it, but it's a question of control.
I have to tell you and warn you that the United States has created 14 military and naval bases in Colombia and 11 bases in Panama. In the last five years there have been 71 military and naval bases in Latin America. I warn you, very esteemed and noble members of Parliament, what we fear most, and one of the reasons I am here, is that we believe there could be a war in the region because of those military bases. We wonder what they are doing there. If they are for narco-traffic, what you need for that are helicopters that can go very easily from one place to the other. These are bases for enormous C-17 planes that can cross the region without refueling. You wonder what they are for.
I am no military expert, but these kinds of things have very much frightened not just Venezuela but the whole of UNASUR. As we are talking, the presidents of UNASUR, which is the organization of all the presidents of Latin America, are sitting down to talk. They are unanimously very worried about the presence of foreign troops and foreign bases in a region where we did not have them before.
So when things are a bit puzzling, I ask you to please think of oil and what interests could be passing on this misinformation out of a country that is struggling but trying very hard to cope with the ordinary problems of underdevelopment.