CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Telephone callers at Venezuela's oil ministry are getting the low-down on the country's oil strategy direct from President Hugo Chavez. "What is the reason for the imperialist aggression against our country? Venezuela is the world's top oil reserve and the world's oil is running out," the short, repeated recording of a recent Chavez speech tells phoners as their call is put on hold and transferred internally. Chavez, a left-wing nationalist who repeatedly accuses the "imperialist" United States of plotting to invade Venezuela and seize its oil, has ordered an overhaul of foreign oil contracts he says are "looting" the world's No. 5 oil exporter. In the recording, Chavez does not explain why the United States would need to invade Venezuela to grab its oil as the South American country has for years shipped more than half of its oil production to its northern neighbor. It still does. Chavez, who frequently accuses President Bush's administration of trying to topple and kill him, has warned the United States that "not a drop" of oil will flow north if Washington tries to harm him or invade the country.
U.S. officials calls these charges "ridiculous," but they describe Chavez as an anti-U.S. troublemaker and criticize his cozy relation with Cuba's Fidel Castro.