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Chavez proposes oil barter

CIENFUEGOS (Cuba): Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has pressed his efforts to counter U.S. influence in Latin America and the Caribbean by suggesting his neighbours pay for cheap oil with goods or services and not just cash.

Mr. Chavez also gave fresh evidence on Friday of his country’s leading role in bolstering the Cuban economy with the reopening of a Soviet-era refinery renovated with Venezuelan help.

“We truly believe in solidarity, cooperation and the joint capacity to develop our countries for our people,” said Cuba’s provisional President Raul Castro at the Camilo Cienfuegos refinery, which had stood idle for more than a decade following the Soviet Union’s collapse.

At a summit of the Petrocaribe regional petroleum group earlier in the day, Mr. Chavez suggested extending to other countries the kind of oil deal Venezuela has with Cuba, which repays by providing doctors who offer free services in impoverished areas of Venezuela. Venezuela sends nearly 1,00,000 barrels of subsidised oil a day to Cuba.

Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said his country had done similar non-monetary deals with Argentina, Bolivia and Uruguay.

“Despite the Yankees, our gas is at the service of Venezuela first, and next to our brothers in the Caribbean,” said Mr. Chavez in a reference to the U.S.

He also called for creating an international fund to promote solar, wind, geothermal and other alternative energy sources. — AP

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