LAT: Chavez Extends an Oil-Rich Hand to Neighbors

[DeepModem Mom]

Chavez Extends an Oil-Rich Hand to Neighbors
Most of the Caribbean accepts the Venezuelan leader's trade offer, which he indicates is a show of solidarity against U.S. influence.

By Carol J. Williams, Times Staff Writer


KINGSTON, Jamaica — With oil prices near record highs and a U.S.-backed free-trade pact for the Western Hemisphere on hold, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is offering cash-strapped Caribbean countries affordable fuel, debt relief and anti-poverty funding.

Thirteen countries have signed on to Chavez's PetroCaribe initiative, which some leaders say is an attempt by the Venezuelan populist to boost his influence in a region where his nemesis, the United States, has long been the main trading partner.

Of the 14 active member states of the Caribbean Community, or Caricom, only Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago have declined to participate. Other leaders from throughout the region, who gathered in the Jamaican resort of Montego Bay last week to inaugurate the new energy trading project, said their participation was based purely on economic self-interest.

"One way or another, we're going to be part of it because it affords benefits that cannot be found anywhere else," said Phillip Paulwell, Jamaica's minister of commerce, science and technology and the newly appointed vice president of PetroCaribe's administrative council. "This is a good deal for the economy and for the country."

At the Montego Bay summit, with Cuban President Fidel Castro at his side, Chavez told Caribbean leaders last Tuesday that his intervention to ease their energy plight was a show of solidarity in a long-exploited region....


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-petrocaribe13sep13,0,6461987.story?coll=la-home-world