Chavez Extends Oil Trade Deal to Caribbean

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has extended a preferential oil trade deal to 13 Caribbean countries in what he says is part of a plan to challenge U.S. economic domination of the region. Under his plan, called PetroCaribe, Venezuela will soon sell up to 190,000 barrels of fuel a day to countries from Jamaica to St. Lucia, offering favorable financing while shipping fuel directly to reduce costs. It is expected to help those countries save millions of dollars.

Chavez, a close ally of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, says the new plan is part of a vision of a "multi-polar" world no longer controlled by "U.S. imperialism." He sees it as part of an alternative for international trade based more on regional solidarity than U.S.-style free trade.The plan includes a $50 million fund to pay for social programs across the Caribbean, similar to those Chavez has started at home with rising oil profits.


Chavez has emerged as a leading critic of the U.S. government and its proposal for a Free Trade Area of the Americas, saying that plan would simply help big U.S. companies at the expense of Latin countries by drawing away their natural resources while doing nothing to confront systematic poverty.


Some Venezuelan opposition politicians argue the only reason Chavez is providing Caribbean nations such a bargain is to shore up support for diplomatic clashes with Washington. Caribbean countries make up roughly half of the 34-member Organization of the American States, where debates on the political situation in Venezuela have played out. "PetroCaribe is Chavez's tool to buy political backing from these countries, which see the agreement as too attractive to turn down," opposition lawmaker Freddy Lepage said. But Chavez has rebuffed suggestions Venezuela is giving away its oil for political motives, saying the Caribbean agreement will support integration and benefit both Venezuela and the region.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/V/VENEZUELA_OIL_DIPLOMACY?SITE=1010WINS&SECTION=INTERNATIONAL&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

:sarcasm:

next on the to be bombed list, no doubt. boy, *'s just charmed 'em all over the world.....

poverty sticken areas. Why there would be any opposition to this plan is beyond me. What is wrong with favorable financing and shipping fuel directly to reduce costs. The US oil companies should take some lessons from Chavez.

"Chavez, a close ally of Cuban leader Fidel Castro.."



Amazingly predictable babble.

I guess He'll have to attack the whole world.

Why can't he be callously indifferent like our god worshiping right wingers are?

I guess that is what makes us superior. Our foreign aid is either too pricey or bombs disguised as some sort of "aid" like go kill yourselves with these. Enjoy.

:thumbsup: