Chávez making a stop in Jamaica (generous oil financing - radio broadcast with Castro on Sunday)

Miami Herald ^ | August 23, 2005 | HOWARD CAMPBELL, AP

[Cincinatus' Wife]

KINGSTON, Jamaica - Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez will travel to Jamaica today for a one-day visit to finalize a plan to supply cheaper oil to Caribbean countries, the island's Foreign Affairs Ministry said.

Chávez and Jamaican Prime Minister P.J. Patterson are expected to sign an accord establishing the PetroCaribe initiative, Venezuela's proposal to supply petroleum to Caribbean countries under favorable financial terms, a Foreign Ministry statement said Monday.

The two leaders will meet in the northern resort town of Montego Bay, the ministry said.

Chávez, who was in Cuba following talks with Fidel Castro, will be joined by Venezuelan Foreign Trade Minister Gustavo Maraquez and Planning and Development Minister Jorge Giodani, the ministry said.

BUILDING HOMES

In a radio broadcast with Castro on Sunday, Chávez said Venezuela was building an unspecified number of new homes in Jamaica and Grenada as part of recovery aid for countries affected by hurricanes last year.

Chávez had planned to tour hurricane-stricken areas in western Jamaica but will be unable to because of time constraints, Jamaican government spokesman Wilton Dyer said.

Venezuelan officials have been touring several Caribbean countries to follow up on the PetroCaribe agreement signed in June. The deal, which is meant to help small Caribbean economies cope with high fuel prices, offers generous financing for oil sales and favorable rates in exchange for goods, services or credit.

Barbados and Trinidad were the only two of 16 countries that did not sign the Petrocaribe agreement. Trinidad Prime Minister Patrick Manning said he was concerned the accord would put his oil-producing nation at a competitive disadvantage. Barbados said it wanted more details before signing.

IMPORTING ENERGY

Although Trinidad is rich in oil and gas, other Caribbean countries import most of their energy and have struggled to cope with the spike in oil prices, which held above $65 a barrel Monday.

Venezuela is the world's fifth-largest oil exporter and the biggest in the Western Hemisphere.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Panama's President Martin Torrijos (C), Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (L) and Cuban President Fidel Castro talk in Havana, August 20, 2005. Panama and Cuba re-established diplomatic relations, after Cuba cut ties during Panama's previous government which had pardoned Cuban exiles accused of trying to assassinate Castro. REUTERS/Claudia Daut

[ken5050]

Add Jamaica to Aruba on the list of Carribean places to avoid..

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Hugo Chavez - Venezuela

Fidel Castro - Cuba

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (R) and his Cuban counterpart Fidel Castro arrive at Chavez's weekly broadcast, 'Alo Presidente,' in Sandino near Pinar del Rio, Cuba August 21, 2005. Chavez, accompanied by Castro, broadcasted live from Cuba during his 13th visit to Cuba since taking power in 1999. NO SALES NO ARCHIVES REUTERS/Handout/Miraflores Palace

[Cincinatus' Wife]

He's buying and/or intimidating Latin America countries into his fold.

[G.Mason]

Without nearly half of the American voters being led by the nose by the Democrat Party, the American Communist Party, the Socialist Party, etal, these despotic regimes would slink back into the caves they came from.

I dare say that should the vast majority of Americans reject the the Godless and self-demeaning message of these people, the rest of the world would stand up and take notice.

Like it, or not, the United States is the Sun of this worlds galaxy.

As it is the amoral Kennedy's, Castro's, Annan's, and their ilk will continue to divide and conquer.

Build their gallows gallows high

[Brilliant]

I don't want to be the nay-sayer, but I don't think there is anything wrong with Chavez selling oil to the Islanders cheaply. If there is something wrong with it, then it's primarily his own problem, and the problem of Venezuelans, not the problem of Americans.

Frankly, if I were Venezuelan, I'd be pretty upset that Chavez was giving our oil wealth away.

And yes, he is buying friends in the Carribean, but so what? The Cold War is over, and al Qaeda is no more interested in the Carribean than it is in Mexico. Mexico is a bigger threat to the US.

Let this pompus ass beat his chest. In the end, it will backfire on him. Like Uncle Sam, you can't pay off everyone with foreign aid, and every dollar you give to a panhandler is a dollar that the chillun' won't have.

[fatnotlazy]

Add Jamaica to Aruba on the list of Carribean places to avoid..

***

As far as I know, Aruba is not a communist sympathizer.

And Jamaica -- well, I would avoid that rathole anyway.

[CORedneck]

I like Pat Robertson's suggestion that he should be assassinated. These dictators (why does the media call them 'President' as if they are repectable ?) have been very warm with friends of Al Qaida. When Chavez got overthrown for a few days, we should have stepped up to the plate and made sure he stayed removed.