ing the principles of Adam Smith with those of Karl Marx. One of the transfor-mations lost in the chaos was the eradication of all things resembling an elitist society—golf among them. Black and white images document Castro and fellow rebel Ernesto “Che” Guevara playing a game of golf at the Colinas Villareal Golf Club in Havana, one month before the ill-fated Bay of Pigs Inva-sion by the US. Chávez’s tactics may resemble those of Castro, but the obstacles differ. There are no brothel-lined streets, casinos light-ing the Caracas skyline or a Meyer Lansky-backed Batista to overthrow. Chávez’s oppo-nent stacks up by the barrel.

In February 2008, Ameri-can crude oil giant Exxon Mobile began arbitration hearings against the Venezu-elan government for breach of contract regarding land the company developed for Venezuela. Chávez national-ized one of the four major oil projects along the Orinoco River’s belt developed by Exxon Mobile. Three interna-tional courts ruled in favor of Exxon Mobile and froze $12 billion of Venezuela’s over-seas assets. Chávez rebuked the victor by cutting off all shipments to Exxon Mobile. Chávez’s plan to decolonize the American-operated oil fields then shifted onto the courses.

“The golf courses that [Chávez] has really ‘closed’

have been those of the oil fields,” says Quintana. “Before, there used to be golf courses in the oil camps, around six or seven of them. They are no longer in work-ing conditions. When the oil industry was nationalized by Chávez, PDVSA [Petróleos de Venezuela S.A.] took over and the golf courses are in ruins. No one is allowed to play.” At the basin of the Orinoco

River, the third largest river in South America and Ven-ezuela’s coveted oil-rich region, getting the prized resource from the ground is more than half the battle. The oil is thick and hard to extract from beneath the surface due to its viscosity. Venezuela, like many coun-tries lacking the advanced engineering, is feeling the strain of independently drill-

ing for oil. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), PDVSA’s production of oil dropped from 3.18 mil-lion barrels per day in 1997 to 2.36 million in 2008. This represents a 26 percent decline over the past 11 years. Oil is big business in Vene-zuela and Chávez is far from a serendipitous Jed Clampett idly watching Texas Tea bubble up from the ground. To him, every drop counts.

On September 16, 2009, Chávez agreed to let China invest $16 billion in oil pro-duction along the Orinoco basin. Chávez also signed a joint venture with five dif-ferent Russian companies at a value of $20 billion over the next three years. With the change, Venezuela will be able to gain a larger per-centage of the royalty cost per barrel. Many experts suggest this is Chávez’s way of thumbing his nose at the American government by making good on a promise he made two years ago to the country of Venezuela, “Our oil is ours.”

Though Chávez has not outwardly stated that he will do away with golf in Venezuela, Chela Quin-tana still fears the worst for her beloved sport. “There are vacant lands in the hands of the govern-ment; there is no need to take private property away from anyone. Freedom is at stake and golf is in danger in Venezuela.”

“I respect all sports, but there are sports and

then there are sports,” Chávez said.

“Do you mean to tell me that this is a people’s sport?”

December 2009 35The Green Magazine