Only a few weeks away, on October 7th, Venezuelan citizens will choose their president for the next six years.  Hugo Chavez , the current president, is being opposed in the election by candidate Henrique Capriles, who has pledged to revise sweetheart deals between PDVSA, the Venezuelan state oil company, and China.  The Venezuelan government wants to keep benefiting from billions of dollars of economic support from China, and in return, China wants an ever-increasing percentage of Venezuelan’s oil.

According to reports, dozens of Chavez supporters wearing red shirts blocked a road leading to a Capriles rally, torched a campaign truck, hurled rocks at Capriles supporters, and stole some of the campaign’s speakers and a generator. 

The very real-life danger that a Capriles victory might disrupt oil deliveries to China is the very theme upon which the new spy fiction thriller, The China Oil Plot, is based.