Chávez steers Venezuelan descent

In the office, now-wavering Chávez supporters grew quiet. As corporate directors were replaced by Army generals, we began to receive questionable decrees from above. In vain, PDVSA executives refuted such mandates as to supply Cuba at special pricing and "indefinite" credit terms - despite arrears exceeding $30 million. Paranoia was building at all levels of the organization as even routine business decisions had to be defended against an overtly hostile "boss" with no industry background or business experience whatsoever.

The government was also sending new clients our way. These "businessmen," from countries including Libya and Colombia, had no knowledge of the petroleum trade. Basic industry jargon drew confused expressions. With no real intention to receive oil cargoes, they bid prices so far above market level that the numbers seemed typographical errors.

One memorable client, whom we nicknamed "Señor Leche En Polvo" (Mr. Powdered Milk, his primary business) managed to slip through all the filters. Unable legally to refuse his bid to buy a tanker of gasoline, managers awarded him a cargo. Predictably, no tanker ever arrived at the load port, causing production losses at the refinery. Some employees suspected PDVSA was being used to launder money via these illegitimate transactions.

These transactions cause even greater concern in light of recent media allegations tying Chávez to Colombian and Middle Eastern terrorist groups.

PDVSA employees strove to maintain the company's international reputation as a reliable petroleum supplier while the internal struggles mounted. Chávez's decrees often placed them in a precarious position between the law and the "law."

I left Venezuela in January of 2002. A visit last month revealed a markedly changed place. Not only the new breed of doctors-turned-taxi-drivers spawned by the Chávez economy but also the veteran cabbies openly curse the vagaries of their president. In rich and poor neighborhoods alike, anti-Chávez graffiti is rampant. The once-courteous young soldiers now regularly assault peaceful demonstrators with tear gas and rubber bullets. My former colleagues, fearing for their lives and their nation's future, protest Chávez's rule daily.

Chávez was elected democratically, but no one can consider him a democratic leader. The people of Venezuela vehemently reject his rule. Historically, PDVSA has been a source of national pride: Popular sentiment has come full circle as the nation now rallies around PDVSA for its role in the current crisis, which is not - at its heart - about oil.

• Priscilla West works in the oil industry in Tulsa, Okla.

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