Wait a minute...I'm not done with my rant yet! We keep asking ourselves...why no permit yet? Why? Why? Why? I think that this pig-headed prick considers gold to be of EXTREME stategic importance (does the U.S. protect Fort Knox?....does "The Man"not try to crush gold as the enemy of the capitalist fiat based system at every turn?). He's come out publically (and rationally) trying to get his comrads in OPEC to trade oil in something other than dollars. He's come out publically predicting (and very possibly correctly) the imminent demise of the fiat based, dollar driven Evil American economic empire while jeering the fact that the IMF has to sell gold ("the crown jewel") to raise funds. The inflation rate in his country is out of control. Connect the F'n dots. He would have to be much dumber than ugly to not recognize the strategic value of the Las Cristinas gold deposit. So you might ask..."Why then GW would he not want to have the mine built (since he can't build it himself) as soon as possible to start mining the gold and THEN change the terms of the contract\confiscate the mine at less than fair market value?". Answer....I have no idear.

PS: If we get the permit before July 1st....I take everything back that I've said about Hugo....including the part in the previous post about missing the Alo Presidente in Bolivar because he was cornholing some floozy...