Cuba-Venezuela: Big Oil Poisoning the Waters Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit [Note that in the May 25 Miami Herald story (2nd below), the alleged debt of Cuba to Venezuela was reported as $142 million. By May 28 this figure as cited by industry sources had shrunk to $63 million. It would appear from the "conservative news and information" piece immediately below (May 24) that the story began in the Venezuelan daily El Nacional. It's an old trick of the CIA to plant stories in the foreign press that then make their way back into the US via republication, the original source suitably obscured from the dummies in the USA. It looks like el Nacional, the anti-Chavez press and Cheney's contacts in Venezuela's oil industry are very busy poisoning the waters -- not only sowing confusion about the Cuba-Venezuela relationship, but also doing a little damage to the economies of both nations. Since the Miami Herald is saying that Cuba's been told Venezuela's oil "isn't free," the Cuban response is probably supposed to be that Cuba's medical care for Venezuelans isn't either. It's no accident this is happening as Hugo Chavez is traveling to OPEC nations attempting to secure a firm oil-price hike. Two people not likely to be fooled by this are Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez.-- NY Transfer] source - TownHall.com "Conservative News and Information" - May 24, 2002 http://www.townhall.com/news/politics/200205/FOR20020524g.shtml Venezuela Stopping Oil Shipments To Cuba (CNSNews.com) - Venezuela's state-run oil monopoly notified the Castro government Friday that it will stop shipping oil to Cuba because of lack of payments. The Venezuelan national newspaper "El Nacional" and various wire service reports out of Caracas quoted officials of "Petroleos de Venezuela" as saying the oil deliveries were being cut off because of lack of payments from Cuba. El Nacional cited company documents that said Venezuela has sold Cuba about 700 million dollars worth of oil, but at least 63 million dollars of that hasn't been paid, according to an internal company document obtained by the paper. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez agreed in 2000 to sell Cuba 53,000 barrels of oil a day. He also allowed Cuba 15 years to pay for it at a low-interest rate. Chavez is known for his close friendship with Cuba's Fidel Castro. Venezuela has similar oil purchasing agreements with other nations. It is the United States' third largest oil supplier. Thus far, the Castro government has issued no official reaction. Earlier Friday, Pedro Carmona, the businessman who became Venezuela's president during a short lived coup last month, disappeared and has asked for political asylum in Colombia, according to Venezuela's foreign minister Luis Davila. BBC Radio reported Carmona escaped after authorities lifted an order keeping him under house arrest at his Caracas apartment while officials investigated his role in overthrow of President Hugo Chavez last month. Reports said Carmona remains housed in the Colombian embassy in Caracas. His escape came just a day after a Venezuelan court ordered him transferred to a jail. Carmona is being investigated on charges of rebellion and conspiracy and could face up to 20 years in jail if convicted. Chavez was ousted by military generals last month after 17 people died in anti-government protests. He returned to power three days after his ouster. * Miami Herald - May 25, 2002 Venezuela to Cuba: Oil isn't free by Christina Hoag CARACAS - Venezuela is toughening the terms of its generous oil-supply deal with Cuba after the island has fallen repeatedly into arrears on payments, currently owing $142 million, oil industry sources said. State-owned oil company Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA) stopped dispatching crude and refined products, including jet fuel, to Cuba around April 12 after the island defaulted on a $63.4 million bill. The outstanding debt has since increased to $142 million, industry sources said. Officials from Cupet, the Cuban oil company, visited Caracas earlier this month in an effort to renew the eight monthly cargoes, a spokesman for the Venezuelan Energy and Mines Ministry said. PDVSA officials agreed to give the Cubans short-term financing of the debt and renew shipments as of June, but imposed more stringent conditions on payment terms, the spokesman and other sources said. Details of the new terms were not available. ''This type of situation is not new,'' said the ministry spokesman, who requested anonymity. `PDVSA has had these types of problems before with lesser-developed countries and is used to resolving these issues.'' Venezuelan petroleum is crucial to Cuba, accounting for about a third of its consumption, or 53,000 barrels a day. The South American country has long been an oil supplier to Cuba, but in 2000 President Hugo Chávez struck a controversial bargain with Cuban President Fidel Castro. Venezuela agreed to give the communist nation up to 15 years to pay for a portion of the shipments at 2 percent interest and with a two-year grace period. The agreement, in which Venezuela agrees to accept letters of credit from the National Bank of Cuba, also allows the island to pay for another part of the supply in 90 days at 2 percent interest. Additionally, the pact permitted some of the oil to be paid for by barter, principally the services of Cuban medical doctors and sports trainers sent to Venezuela, and the treatment of seriously ill Venezuelans in Cuba. The barter clause was eliminated last year, with medical services now considered a goodwill donation by the Cuban government. Castro is both a mentor and close personal friend of Chávez, who once said life in Cuba was `a sea of happiness.'' The oil deal in particular has raised many hackles among Chávez's opposition, who see it as Chávez placing political affinity ahead of good business practices. ''The terms given to Cuba are more favorable than those given to other countries, such as [those in] Central America,'' said oil consultant Alberto Quiros Corradi. `On top of that, they don't pay, so it's not in Venezuela's interest.'' During last month's brief 48-hour ouster of Chávez, managers at PDVSA announced that they would immediately suspend the Cuba supply contract. Employees gathered at an assembly cheered and applauded. But PDVSA President Ali Rodríguez, a former leftist guerrilla, said upon taking the post last month that the Cuban contract would be honored. ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytsa-05.28.02-18:16:31-32457