Since I really went off on PDVSA’s Anzoategui oil spill the other day, allow me to quote in large part PDVSA’s statement on the issue.
PDVSA accelerates cleanup work in Bare areas
San Tomé.- The Faja Petrolífera del Orinoco’s Ayacucho División explained to the press from southern Anzoátegui that it cleanup efforts are currently ongoing at the site where an environmental event took place 5 July — that is, in Area 2 of Bare 4 — despite ongoing protests brought about by a group of professional destabilizers who live in the La Peña community.
The 10-barrel spill, which resulted from the use of a hacksaw on the tubing, affecting a 500-square-meter area of the El Cardumen (Fish School) ranch in Simón Rodríguez municipality of Anzoátegui state. The situation was attacked by the industry with the activation of a contingency plan. However, because of constant road closures and blockades against heavy machinery by groups of people, the cleanup efforts have been delayed…
Molero said professional agitators are responsible for creating unease in the communities to move public opinion and create a prejudice in the press…
And according to El Tiempo, of Puerto La Cruz, also in Anzoategui state, there are now arrest warrants out for a couple landowners in the area for supposed sabotage.
“The producers are using undocumented people of doubtful provenance in the village of La Peña and El Tigre to damage the pipelines. They are some professional agitators and employment slot brokers who refuse to follow the rules of the PDVSA HR system (Sisdem)”.
Who knows. When I hear the Chavez government mention sabotage I immediately get suspicious. But they seem to have a coherent story this time. If I got played by an anti-government communication strategy that was based on someone intentionally dumping oil into the plains of Anzoategui, all I can say is sorry — last thing I want to do is reward that sort of behaviour. This is why everyone should rely more on the local press rather than some dude 4000 km away from the story.
Still: The environmental groups that give Venezuela a pass on spills should still wake up.
Setty's notebook 
Setty, I find it hard to believe that you’d fall for a statement from PdVSA at all. I mean, aren’t we talking about an enterprise completely taken over by the “government”? How can you be sure that it’s only a “10 barrel spill”? I mean, this is Venezuela, right? This is where the oil spills are numerous, and the repercussions aren’t talked about. I have a grandson who is almost 3 years old; what kind of future in this world will I/we be leaving him and his peers? Why the fuck is it that the kind of world that we’re leaving our children/grandchildren will be such an abomination? I just don’t get it. SMH…This is such a horrible situation to confront…
i have no idea what the truth is but i can tell you that the oil in that picture is a hell of a lot more than 10 barrels.
Anytime there’s some sort of sabotage of late, or people of doubtful provenance and documentation, I simply assume there’s a rabipelado or iguana involved. I will give credit where credit is due, however: I was unaware they had discovered the utilization of hacksaws.
And in any event, the leaks are, and will remain, an ongoing problem because they are so easy to cause, be it through negligence or opportunism. If no one else in the world, let alone Venezuela takes the problem seriously, why should the people in the areas that the oil runs through like so much blood through the veins of the country?
Either way, I take information originating in Venezuela with several thousand grains of salt. Even if I happen to see it first hand.
http://www.lapatilla.com/site/2012/07/18/vecinos-de-anzoategui-rechazan-acusaciones-de-sabotaje-en-derrames-petroleros/