New: Chavez threatens to halt US oil exports, again

CARACAS, Venezuela — Once again, President Hugo Chavez is up in arms over the possibility of a U.S.-backed invasion from Colombia and has threatened to halt oil shipments to the United States. On Sunday, Chavez said that he’d postponed a trip to Cuba because the likelihood of an invasion is the highest it’s been “in 100 years.”

“The Yankee Empire is threatening us,” Chavez told a crowd of red-clad supporters in a televised speech. “If there is an armed aggression against Venezuela, we will suspend oil shipments to the United States, even if we have to eat rocks.”

The U.S. State Department denied the allegations. But Chavez’s ministers quickly went into overdrive in an effort to back his claims.