Check this out. The AP is reporting that Hugo is in Moscow trying to convince private Russian firms to build a pipeline for his oil. And the oil is, now, his.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez called on Russian business leaders yesterday to invest in the construction of a Mercosur-planned 8,000-km natural gas pipeline to Argentina, retrofitting Venezuela’s dilapidated seaports, and developing its gold mining and chemical industries.
‘‘For the Americas, Venezuela is like Russia for Europe and Asia — a source of oil and natural gas.’’ Both Venezuela and Russia have revisited contracts signed in the 1990s with major oil companies, and slapped back-tax claims on private firms.

If the Russians build this stuff, Hugo will take possession of it for himself (”nationalize”), and those “stinking, commie b*st*ards,” to use the cold war parlance I still adore, will get a taste of their own coleslaw.