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<h1><b>Venezuela's Chavez demanding independence for Puerto
Rico</b></h1><font size=3>By Christopher Toothaker, Associated Press
Writer | March 5, 2006<br><br>
CARACAS, Venezuela --President Hugo Chavez accused the United States of
attempting to foment the secession of an oil-rich region in western
Venezuela on Sunday and demanded independence for the Caribbean island of
Puerto Rico.<br><br>
Chavez said U.S. officials were working behind the scenes with the
governor of Zulia state, which is home to much of Venezuela's
all-important oil industry, to create a secession movement loyal to U.S.
interests.<br><br>
"The imperialists are there trying to give strength ... trying to
give form to a secessionist movement, of course, to take control of the
great oil wealth there," said Chavez, speaking during his weekly
television and radio program "Hello President."<br><br>
Zulia state is governed by Manuel Rosales, an outspoken opponent of
left-leaning Chavez. Rosales has rejected past accusations of his alleged
involvement in conspiracies involving Zulia's secession.<br><br>
Chavez urged employees at Venezuela's state-run oil company Petroleos de
Venezuela SA, or PDVSA, to join the nation's military reserve to help
prepare for a possible attempt by foreign troops to seize oil refineries,
then asked Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez how many people work at
PDVSA.<br><br>
"We have 34,000 workers," Ramirez said.<br><br>
"That's three (military) divisions," replied Chavez, a former
army lieutenant colonel. "Every PDVSA worker should become a
reservist."<br><br>
Chavez, who accuses U.S. President George W. Bush of backing efforts to
topple his government, also condemned the killing of Puerto Rican
nationalist Filiberto Ojeda and encouraged residents of Puerto Rico, a
U.S. territory of 4 million people, to fight for independence.<br><br>
"While (U.S.) imperialism wants to divide Venezuela in parts, we are
raising the flag of independence for our beloved Puerto Rico,"
Chavez said. "The time has come for Puerto Rico to be independent.
How long are we going to have a colony there in Puerto
Rico?"<br><br>
Puerto Rico has been a commonwealth since 1952. Puerto Ricans voted to
keep that status by rejecting statehood in nonbinding referendums in
1967, 1993 and 1998.<br><br>
Most Puerto Ricans favor the island's current status.<br><br>
Chavez condemned the September killing of Ojeda, who was shot by FBI
agents during a raid to arrest him for the 1983 robbery of $7.2 million
in West Hartford, Conn. Ojeda used the robbery to help fund his
independence activities.<br><br>
"The FBI assassinated him. They entered a house, shooting, where he
was and he was wounded, but he could have been saved," said
Chavez.<br><br>
The FBI has said that its agents did not enter the house until almost 24
hours after the shooting because of fears that Ojeda had rigged it with
explosives, and had awaited the arrival of an investigative team from
Virginia. An autopsy has shown that Ojeda, who was shot once in the
shoulder, might have survived if he had received immediate medical
care.<br><br>
Ojeda's death has been widely condemned in Puerto Rico, where some viewed
him as an independence movement hero.
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