Hugo Chavez.

Editor,

In 1973 the U.S. informed Saudi Arabia that unless they cycled their petrodollar windfall through Wall Street, our military would invade. The Saudis complied, and a mountain of cash became available to U.S. banks to lend to developing economies -- on conditions that demolished social infrastructures around the world.

Hugo Chavez will sell the Americans as much oil as they want, and he'll sell it for $50 a barrel. But he won't put the money into the predatory hands of Wall Street. He'll spend it -- on health care, education, and other social services in Venezuela and throughout Latin America. This is why the American military-financial-media complex hates Senor Chavez and has begun the inexorable process of demonizing him in preparation for a coup.