ISFAHAN, Iran - Venezuela's energy minister warned the United States Wednesday that his country would not sell the US a single barrel of oil if the government of Hugo Chavez again came under "attack" from Washington.
"If Venezuela is the subject of a new attack against its democracy and President Chavez, the distortion in the oil will be gigantic," Rafael Ramirez told reporters here.
"We would not sell a single barrel to the United States," added Ramirez, in Iran for a meeting of OPEC ministers.
Venezuela, which sends around half of its oil exports to the United States, accuses Washington US of being behind failed coup of April 2002 while recently Chavez has alleged the US intends to assassinate him.
The United States has strongly backed domestic opponents of Chavez and slammed him as an autocrat and a meddler who promotes instability in Latin America.
03/16/2005 13:25 GMT