Venezuela: The Spectre of Big Oil

'Never again will they rob us -- the ExxonMobil bandits. They are imperial, American bandits, white-collared thieves. They turn governments corrupt, they oust governments. They supported the invasion of Iraq.' This was the response from Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez to the successful lawsuit by the world's biggest corporation (ExxonMobil), freezing $12 billion in assets of Venezuela's state-owned oil company, PDVSA -- a serious escalation in Big Oil's long running dispute with Chávez and the movement he represents.