My guess is Hugo Chavez is very much a liability to the power brokers of the oil industry. As I heard on the interviews with the fellow who either produced or directed the movie Syriana, Hugo Chavez's very life may be in danger because he isn't towing the agenda line.
If he is "removed", you can bet it was a planned and not random event set in motion by very powerful white men with little patience for anything but their bottom lines and the complete control of oil resources.