MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chavez blames Bush's “imperialism” for soaring oil prices

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Friday blamed the recent spike in world oil prices on U.S. counterpart George W. Bush and his “imperialist policies.”

Chavez, whose nation is one of the main suppliers of crude to the United States, said the U.S. invasion of Iraq has unleashed an "inferno" in the Middle East. It is that situation, he claims, which has driven the international price of oil to $40 a barrel.

"George W. Bush is the great culprit for the entire disaster" with petroleum prices, Chavez said at a public event in Caracas. The nation's radio and television stations were obliged to broadcast the address live.

Crude oil prices reached $40 per barrel Friday on the New York market, their highest point since October 1990, during the build up to the 1991 Gulf War.

Oil from Venezuela, the fifth-biggest exporter in the world and fourth-leading supplier to the United States ended the week with a rise of $2.19, reaching $33.40 a barrel.

The country's Energy Ministry said that one of the reasons for the "strong rise" in price was the "concern over how Middle Eastern providers will be affected in the short- and medium-term due to the rise in violence in countries such as Saudi Arabia and Iraq."

According to Chavez, Bush "believed that by sending tanks and the Marines to Iraq he was going to take over the petroleum," of that country, but "it turned out he couldn't dominate Iraq and now the conflict has extended to other countries of the region." "We feel the fair price should be around $30 a barrel," said Chavez.

Tension has marked diplomatic relations between Venezuela and the United States since Chavez was elected president in 1998. The former army lieutenant colonel led a failed coup in 1992.