- CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) --
President Hugo Chavez on Sunday vowed to freeze oil exports to the United
States and wage a "100-year war" if Washington ever tried to
invade Venezuela.
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- The United States has repeatedly denied ever trying to
overthrow Chavez, but the leftist leader accuses Washington of being behind
a failed 2002 coup and of funding opposition groups seeking a recall referendum
on his presidency.
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- Chavez accused the United States of ousting former Haitian
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and warned Washington not to "even
think about trying something similar in Venezuela."
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- Venezuela "has enough allies on this continent to
start a 100-year war," Chavez said during his weekly television show.
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- He added that "U.S. citizens could forget about
ever getting Venezuelan oil" if the United States ever tried to invade.
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- Venezuela provides about 15 percent of U.S. oil imports,
but relations between the two countries are rocky over Chavez's friendship
with Cuban President Fidel Castro, his criticism of U.S.-led negotiations
for a free trade zone in the Americas and his opposition to the war in
Iraq.
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- The United States was slow to condemn the 2002 coup,
initially accusing Chavez of provoking his own downfall.
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- Chavez has increasingly railed against U.S. meddling
in Venezuelan affairs as his opponents step up protests to demand the recall
vote.
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- On Saturday, at least 500,000 Venezuelans marched in
Caracas to protest the National Elections Council's ruling last week that
an opposition petition for the recall vote lacked enough valid signatures.
Opponents turned in more than 3 million signatures Dec. 19, but the council
ruled only 1.8 million were valid. The council ordered more than 1 million
citizens to confirm they signed and rejected more than 140,000 signatures
outright.
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- Rioting over the decision killed eight people and hurt
scores more. The violence subsided after the Organization of American States
and the U.S.-based Carter Center pledged to help give citizens a fair chance
to prove they signed.
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- Venezuela is deeply divided between those who fear Chavez
is trying to impose Cuba-style socialism and those who say he has given
an unprecedented political voice to the impoverished majority.
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- Chavez insists the recall petition is fraud-ridden. He
claims many signatures belong to dead people, minors and foreigners.
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- On Sunday, Chavez promised his government would investigate
the deaths and injuries from last week's violence. Opposition leaders accuse
National Guard troops of committing abuses while trying to keep rock-throwing
protesters from blocking roads with burning tires. Chavez accuses his opponents
of instigating chaos.
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- "The government is investigating all the acts of
violence and especially those in which people died," Chavez said.
"Violence only takes place when a group of the opposition leaders
decide there will be violence."
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