So Chavez holds the Latin American Energy Summit in
Margarita island, where he was going to propose all sorts of grandiose and
unifying concepts for Latin America. Let’s see his main proposals:
---The tenth point in the final declaration would make a
call against Ethanol production from crops as proposed by The Venezuelan
declaration. After hours of discussion, we have yet to see the final
declaration, but we did see Hugo Chávez turning the reverse-ethanol-shift,
praising ethanol and saying Venezuela would import ethanol from Brazil. Strike
one.
---Chavez proposes a natural gas cartel to group Latin
American Gas Exporters, despite the fact that Venezuela does not even export a
cubic centimeter of natural gas. The President of Brazil nixes the concept as
Marco Aurelio Garcia pulled his weight and threatened to have Lula leave early.
Strike Two. ---Venezuela has proposed the Bank of the South with most
South American countries joining the idea, as Venezuela will provide most of
the capital for it. Brazil says not interested unless everyone contributes a
fair share. Proposal postponed. Strike Three. Of course, Chavez held a strange press conference alone
after the summit was over, hailing it a “total success”. Still waiting for that final document... Oh yeah! And remember the enviromentalist´s dream that Chavez came up with of a gas pipeline through the Amazon? Well, Lula said, it's OK as long as Chavez pays for it and goes no further than Pernambuco. You be the judge.
9:06:39 PM 
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