[LINK] "Venezuela accuses US of starting oil war to 'destroy' Russia and Venezuela"

[rfmcdonald]

Al Jazeera reports.

Venezuela relies on oil revenue for 96 percent of its hard currency reserves, so the plunging price of oil — which has dropped by half in the past six months to $48 a barrel — threatens to destabilize its economy. President Nicolas Maduro has a theory about what’s behind the sudden drop.

"Did you know there's an oil war?” Maduro asked the leaders of Venezuela’s state-run businesses in a speech Monday in which he accused the United States of trying to flood the market with shale oil. “And the war has an objective: to destroy Russia. It's a strategically planned war ... also aimed at Venezuela, to try and destroy our revolution and cause an economic collapse," Maduro added.

The boom in U.S. shale oil production has pushed down oil prices worldwide, from $96 a barrel just six months ago, but Maduro’s comments say more about the pressure on his government domestically and Venezuela’s crucial relationship with Russia than about the global oil market.

Even before oil started slipping, Venezuela was suffering an economic slowdown. Venezuelans have been suffering from shortages of basic goods including cooking oil, detergent and diapers amid an economic slowdown, the highest inflation in the Americas and restrictions on foreign currency for businesses. Venezuela’s most famous ice-cream store, Coromoto, which holds a Guinness world record for its 863 different ice-cream flavors, reported over the holidays that it had closed due to lack of milk. The Tourism Ministry denied that shortages caused the closure.

Maduro’s opponents have turned Coromoto into a symbol of Venezuela’s larger economic failure. They blame 15 years of socialist policies and the trampling of rights, which they charge began under Maduro's predecessor, Hugo Chavez, for the country’s economic woes.