It's their choice to make, of course. But I really don't see the logic.
If you hate Chavez, why not take the free oil rather than allowing him to sell it to someone else? Seems it weakens him more to take it than to not.
Bada bing
I don't agree. Chavez has plenty of money, and heaven knows he's not spending it to better the lives of his own people.
He is using his money to purchase political propaganda, and taking free oil from him furthers his goals. He doesn't need the money that selling the oil would have brought him; after all, he's giving away only a very small percentage of it. It's painless to give away small quantities of things you have in abundance, and it helps him tremendously when he gains propaganda points and credibility in exchange for such a small sacrifice.
Excelent points.
Of course, the same could be said of any rich philantrophist, or for corporations like Walmart when they do similar things.
Bottom line is that if you don't trust someone, they aren't really going to be able to change your view of them no matter how good their actions are, because you can always use the whole "it's just a ploy to get more support so that they can further their evil schemes" line of logic to rebut it.
