Who is pouring the crude at the Caribbean energy summit?
…Castro is the sales pitch: Best friend Chavez ships him 90,000 barrels of Venezuelan oil a day (oil that’s not Chavez’s, but the state’s, the opposition points out). In exchange, Chavez gets 30,000 Castro “doctors” who are little more than spies on a mission to monitor Venezuelans. All in all, an utterly insulting exchange.
Castro’s visit shows the same deal is in store for other Caribbean states that must buy Venezuelan oil. Chavez is making them an offer of subsidized oil they can’t refuse. The real price will be high, however. Caribbean states may be forced to take on the Cuban “doctors” who will keep an eye on them, probably as part of a package deal.
Investors.com has more. (ht: reelcobra)
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7 Comments
1. David Thomson:Chavez will never allow the democratic process to remove him. I have been arguing for well over a year that eventually we will have to invade Venezuela. He is far too unstable (maybe even mentally ill?). Chavez has literally stated that Condi Rice wanted to have sex with him. Such craziness should scare the hell out of us. This is overwhelming evidence that the man is not in touch with reality. Iím convinced that Chavez will, sooner or later, begin to discretely fund terrorist acts against the United States. Pure necessity will compel us to take action.
Jun 30, 2005 - 9:26 am 2. Charlie (Colorado):If only the CIA were actually any good at covert assassinations.
Jun 30, 2005 - 9:29 am 3. PJ:Where are the protests of “it’s all about OIL”?
The silence is deafening.
Jun 30, 2005 - 9:30 am 4. Lola:What about the Venezuelan military? It seems to me, from reading here and other blogs, that Chavez is on quickstand when it comes to his relationship with them.
Jun 30, 2005 - 10:31 am 5. PSGInfinity:Chavez has been such a wonderful breath of fresh air in the otherwise putrid world of neo-Marxism. Aww, the little dear is trying to set up a regional hegemony. Isn’t that special?
Color me unruffled, save for the common citizen who suffers under a mania such as Hugo’s. Bush is playing it exactly right. Remember, we can squash him virtually at will. So no need to rush. Go ahead, give the jerk all the rope he needs to hang himself. And demonstrate, under controlled conditions, that Marxism isn’t merely a Russian perversion, but rather the most disgusting scourge to ever spring from depths of human darkness.
Jun 30, 2005 - 11:26 am 6. Fausta:Hugo’s been saying he would be willing to accept goods such as bananas or sugar for a portion of payments. As Celia Cruz would say, ¬°Az√∫ca!.
Fidel had to postpone his trip by a day. Originally the plan was that he’d parade through Caracas in the popemobile (which Hugo purchased from the Vatican), and that he’d sponsor the graduating class of the Venezuelan armed forces. Because of the uproar (link in Spanish), which included protest demonstrations at the Cuban embassy and graduating cadets resigning their commissions, there was a brief postponement, but Fidel turned up in Venezuela after all.
Trinidad and Tobago weren’t signing. T&T are self-sufficient in oil.
Curiously, apparently there haven’t been any photos released of Hugo & Fidel, both narcissitic egotists who love the media.
I don’t think invading Venezuela would be advisable or even necessary. Hugo’s doing a good enough job of irritating enough people, some of which are up to no good on their own.
What the USA should do is foster free trade with Latin America.
Jun 30, 2005 - 11:28 am 7. RiverRat:Roger,
For what it’s worth, you may want to know that Mexican street Spanish the word crudo means “hungover”
Estoy muy crudo esta manana.
I am very hungover this morning.
Of course it also means crude as in oil as a noun and raw or harsh as an adjective when you use a Spanish dictionary.
Ain’t languages fun!
Jun 30, 2005 - 12:45 pm