Fidel gets hero's welcome in Venezuela
Forging ties across the Caribbean
By Teresa
Gutiérrez
Two important Latin American heads of state held a meeting
of great historical significance at the end of October: Cuban
President Fidel Castro and Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez.
A major outcome of President Castro's five-day visit to
President Chavez in Venezuela was the signing of the Caracas
Energy Agreement. The two signed the agreement at an Oct. 30
joint news conference that was broadcast throughout Latin
America and transmitted to Spain and the United States.
Other Central American and Caribbean countries had
previously signed the trade agreement. The document will take
effect immediately and remains valid for five years.
The accord was in direct defiance of the U.S. blockade of
Cuba.
The agreement states in part that Venezuela will supply
around 53,000 barrels a day of crude oil and its derivatives
directly to Cuba. The deal circumvents the third parties that
currently route oil to the island.
The oil sales, currently worth about $1 billion annually,
are part of a wide-ranging economic cooperation agreement.
The Venezuelan government will provide 25-percent financing
for the oil sold to Cuba. The Cubans can pay for the oil in
barter for goods or services such as health care and
education.
The agreement affirms that Cuba will bring expertise in
medicine and agriculture to Venezuela. A special provision
establishes that Cuba will provide doctors, medial specialists
and health technicians free of charge. The personnel will work
in areas of Venezuela where they will not displace existing
medical staff.
President Chavez told reporters that he and President Castro
had also discussed how Cuba might help the sugar industry in
Sanabeta, Venezuela. Cuba agreed to provide technical
assistance to run refineries and develop sugarcane agriculture
and will also help construct three new sugar refineries.
U.S. 'uneasy' over visit
Early accounts in the U.S. corporate media reveal the
significance of this visit.
The Associated Press wrote Oct. 26 that Chavez' close
friendship with Castro "has made the United States uneasy."
Experts in international relations warned that Venezuela
"risks weakening its ties with the United States, its largest
oil market, by defying its embargo," according to an Oct. 26
Reuters dispatch.
During much of the visit, both leaders were dressed in
military fatigues instead of business suits.
While in Venezuela, Castro had the opportunity to comment
about the situation in that county as well as all of Latin
America.
On Oct. 27, he addressed the Venezuelan National Assembly.
His talk followed a small right-wing protest by some Assembly
members who boycotted the speech.
But in the streets, especially on the day he arrived,
thousands of people, many wearing red berets, cheered the Cuban
president with great emotion.
Fidel salutes Bolívar
At the National Assembly, Castro recognized the role that
the great 19th century Venezuelan leader Simón
Bolívar played in the anti-colonial struggles of Latin
America and the Caribbean.
President Castro highlighted Bolívar's thinking on
the need for unity and independence for the entire continent.
He pointed out that even at that early stage of the development
of U.S. imperialism, Bolívar's genius "allowed him to
guess" that the U.S. "seemed destined to spread calamities in
the Americas in the name of freedom." The full speech can be
read at the Web site www.granma.cu.
During his five-day stay, Castro addressed legislatures,
students, campe sinos and many workers.
He advised the Venezuelan masses to protect their popular
leader. "There is no doubt that Chavez' enemies here and abroad
will try to eliminate him," warned the experienced
revolutionary, who has successfully led socialist Cuba since
the 1959 overthrow of Fulgencio Batista.
He also urged the masses to take an active role in building
a new society in Venezuela. He called on the people to organize
themselves and depend less on the president since Chavez
"cannot be mayor of the whole of Venezuela."
The Cuban president affirmed his confidence in the
Venezuelan leader. "At this moment, in this country, you have
no substitute," he told Chavez.
President Castro also commented on the Nov. 7 U.S.
presidential election. "I recommend that the American voters go
to the beach on election day" instead of voting for either Bush
or Gore, he said.
Aid from third-biggest
oil producer
Because the spokesperson of the Cuban Revolution still has a
broad following throughout the continent, friends and enemies
alike carefully scrutinize every word he utters. The capitalist
class also closely analyzes every agreement and action made by
socialist Cuba.
So it is of note when Venezuela, the world's number-three
exporter of oil, makes such a favorable and public trade
agreement with Cuba and helps Cuba break out of diplomatic and
economic isolation.
Chavez presides over a country that has a valuable world
commodity--oil. Imperialist powers have fought great wars over
control of this commodity.
Recently the media credited--or blamed--Chavez for the rise
in oil prices. It's true he hosted the last OPEC summit in
Caracas and has worked to stabilize oil rates at a level that
can sustain development in the producing countries.
When some imperialist powers complained of the prices,
Chavez stated in response that the rise in prices is "fair and
just. For a century, they [industrial nations] took millions of
barrels of oil at giveaway prices. How nice it would be if they
also lowered the prices of things they sell to us, lowered the
prices of computers, medicine, cars and the interest rates on
the foreign debt."
Chavez and Castro have company in their stand against
corporate control of the world economy. Not just in Havana and
Caracas but in Palestine and Colombia, in Prague and Seattle,
the masses are moving in defiance of imperialism. They will
soon take center stage around the world.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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