US works to ease Caribbean dependence on Venezuelan oil

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

US works to ease Caribbean dependence on Venezuelan oil

AP foreign, Saturday January 24 2015

By BEN FOX

Associated Press= MIAMI (AP) — A decade-long addiction to oil subsidized by Venezuela may be coming to an end for several Caribbean nations, with a nudge from the United States.

Fears that falling oil prices could knock the wheels off the already wobbly economy of oil-dependent Venezuela have sparked apparent interest in alternatives to Petrocaribe, a trade program created by the late President Hugo Chavez that has kept the region dependent on the South American country for energy.

Evidence of that interest will be on display Monday as Caribbean leaders converge in Washington for the first Caribbean Energy Security Summit, hosted by Vice President Joe Biden. Plans for the event have been in the works for months, but with oil recently falling to below $50 a barrel, a sense of urgency has emerged given Venezuela's increasingly precarious situation.

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All the countries of the region, except Cuba, are expected to participate in closed talks that will involve Biden and other U.S. officials as well as representatives of the European Union, the U.N., and multilateral financing agencies such as the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank.

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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/feedarticle/11751301

[Demeter]

1. Excuse me?

I sincerely doubt that any part of South America feels "dependent" on Venezuela for oil.

I think rather they would roast and eat their children before buying a drop of petroleum products from Uncle Scam.

The people down south are not in the habit of forgetting the evil done upon them for generations by the USA. Nor are they likely to do anything that the USA wishes.

And that goes DOUBLE for the multinational Big Oil puppetmasters.


They won't be able to import natural gas at a reasonable price, either. And if they permit investors in to drill for it, I expect the nationalization of the gas fields will follow shortly after the first strike.

[Bacchus4.0]

2. Caribbean nations, not South America n/t

[Judi Lynn]

4. You are completely right. They all have perfect memories of what has happened to them already,

and the clear examples set around each of them with their neighbors already pressed painfully into their awareness.

They only way left to the U.S. now, other than outright physical aggression, will be from the heavily US taxpayer-financed creation and sustenance of for-profit-only "opposition," coercion, targeted assassinations, continued military training of their soldiers at the School of the Americas (Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation) at Ft. Benning, Ga., etc., just as they are doing now.

[Judi Lynn]

3. Decade-long "addiction" to oil? Really? It has lasted since 1980. Slightly longer, clearly.

From a split-second search for a source on this:

From www.LatinPetroleum.com

Top Petroleum News
Mexico and Venezuela renew San Jose Accord
By EFE
Aug 4, 2004, 17:55



Mexico and Venezuela renewed the San Jose Accord whereby the two oil producing nations supply a total of 160,000 barrels a day of crude to 11 Central American and Caribbean nations at discount prices.

The document was signed simultaneously in Mexico and Venezuela by Presidents Vicente Fox and Hugo Chavez, according to a joint communique.

[font color=red] The San Jose Accord came into existence on Aug. 3, 1980, and it has never been suspended.[/font]

The countries that benefit from the special crude prices are Barbados, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama and the Dominican Republic, the communique noted.

The pact also establishes "a cooperation mechanism to promote the economic and social development of the beneficiary nations."

The cooperation accord finances social-economic development projects in the participating nations, as well as trade of goods and services by Mexican and Venezuelan firms.

Mexico and Venezuela each provide half of the total 160,000 barrels per day of the crude sold at discount prices.

http://www.latinpetroleum.com/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi?archive=17&num=3542&printer=1

They are dragging their aggression toward Venezuela out in public, now, instead of resorting to covert nastiness while in hiding.

For the thinking impaired, this started long, long before Hugo Chavez was elected in December, 1998.

[Judi Lynn]

6. For any progressive looking for a good laugh, take a glance at this knee-slapper.

This is the actual original situation used by the OLD Venezuelan government and Mexico in trying to dictate to their oil customers in this hemisphere who were covered by the "San Jose Accord":

2 LATIN NATIONS ACT TO CURB OIL FOR BELLIGERENTS
By RICHARD J. MEISLIN , Special to the New York Times
Published: August 4, 1984

MEXICO CITY, Aug. 3— Mexico and Venezuela said today they would halt delivery of discount- priced oil to any Central American and Caribbean countries ''that initiate warlike actions'' against others in the region.
The announcement by the two nations said they were adopting the policy to provide incentive for ''preservation of peace'' as well as for strengthening ''democratic and social development.''

A Foreign Ministry spokesman here said the condition for further oil deliveries would not be retroactive. It will be up to Mexico and Venezuela, he said, to determine whether a country should be put under sanction.

Addition to 4-Year-Old Pact

The condition was a new feature in the four-year-old San Jose pact, which is renewed annually. Under the San Jose agreement, Mexico and Venezuela provide generous credit terms for oil to 10 Central American and Caribbean countries. The pact gave no indication which countries might be put under sanction for ''warlike actions.''

El Salvador, Honduras and Costa Rica, along with the United States, have accused Nicaragua of backing actions against the three Central American countries. Nicaragua has accused Honduras of supporting rebels seeking to topple its Government.

Several Countries Benefit

All these countries benefit from the San Jose accord, as do the Dominican Republic, Barbados, Belize, Guatemala, Jamaica and Panama. The pact, which takes its name from the Costa Rica capital where it was signed, provides oil to participating countries for a payment of 80 percent of market rates. The remaining 20 percent can be paid back over a period of five years at an interest rate of 8 percent or, if it is to be used for development programs, over 20 years at a rate of 6 percent.

Under the new pact, the program would be authorized to ship 130,000 barrels of oil a day, down from 160,000 under the 1983-84 agreement.

Contadora Group's Aims Cited

Mexico and Venezuela said sanctions against aggressive actions would be an effort to ''take every effort necessary for the complete fulfillment of the Contadora Group.''

Colombia, Mexico, Panama and Venezuela - the members of the Contadora Group, named for the island where they met - have been trying for more than 18 months to negotiate an agreement among the Central American countries, a key element of which would commit them to refrain from directly or indirectly backing attacks on neighboring countries. Mexico and Venezuela did not specify how a decision to apply sanctions would be made, saying only that they would ''suspend application of this program to participating countries that initiate warlike actions against other states of the area, in violation of the Charter of the United Nations.''

They also did not say whether a country found to have committed ''warlike actions'' would lose its Mexican and Venezuelan oil supplies entirely or only the credit subsidies.

U.S. Praise Awkward for Mexico

The changes come at a time when United States officials have been praising Mexico - to the embarrassment of its officials - for having moderated its support of leftist groups in Central America. The Government of Mexico denies any substantive change in its foreign policy.

More:
http://www.nytimes.com/1984/08/04/world/2-latin-nations-act-to-curb-oil-for-belligerents.html

[Judi Lynn]

5. Isn't this thoughtful? Our own government, looking out for the welfare of poor Caribbean countries,

all of them, of course, except for Cuba.

Putting the pressure on the little, impoverished ones, hoping they won't be able to afford to say "no," then wiping out all of the Caribbean lines to the Venezuelan government in one fell swoop. Not too conspicuous.

The author of this article, Ben Fox, can be counted upon to deliver everything the business (no poor people, please) -serving right-wing would want to hear:

Ben Fox has been Caribbean News Editor at The Associated Press since May 2005. Mr. Fox joined AP in 1999 as a reporter in the San Diego bureau. Mr. Fox transferred in October 2002 to the international desk, and became Orange County correspondent in March 2004. In 2001, he won the Bernard Hurwitz Award for Excellence in Reporting, given annually to a California AP staff member. From 1997-99, Mr. Fox was the Dow Jones Newswires reporter in Monterrey, Mexico. Previously, he was a reporter for The Oakland Tribune and ANG Newspapers, The (Sacramento) Union and The Napa Valley Register. Mr. Fox is a native of Boston and a graduate of the University of California, Davis.

http://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=22534702&privcapId=1249808&previousCapId=1249808&previousTitle=The%2520Associated%2520Press,%2520Inc.

[Demeter]

7. Thanks Judi for digging this all up

I spend so much time on the Economy group, appreciate every little thing you do in this one (so I don't have to!).

The US policy is as subtle as a sledgehammer. Why the hell don't they go for offering wind and solar installations, which are much more suitable for the Caribbean anyway?

Because that's NOT what Big Oil and Big Gas want, of course! Gotta help them Koch Bros. get their share (all of it, as they said).

Of course, since CHINA is the source for solar equipment, they will make great sales if they try...and isn't Germany the leader in wind power?

(There is some kind of wind power manufacturing in the US, since they haul those blades and turbines up and down Michigan 12 all the time...so maybe it's not a totally unreachable market.)

When I think of US foreign policy, I get nauseated.

[polly7]

8. Thank you Judi Lynn.

Oops ...... wrong spot, but thank you again.

[Judi Lynn]

11. Hi, Polly! Thank you! n/t

[Bacchus4.0]

9. Or they can just keep hoping Ven sells them cheap oil. Natural gas is less polluting than oil

Don't worry, as long as Venezuela continues to sell them oil for cheap, I am sure those countries will accept it.

[Judi Lynn]

10. Good one! God forbid they should move to renewable resources! The Koch gods would be angry! n/t