Rory Carroll in Caracas
Wednesday October 17, 2007
The Guardian
Venezuela and Cuba have cemented their alliance with a range of economic
deals which President Hugo Chávez said could pave the way to a
confederation.
The Venezuelan leader wrapped up a three-day visit to the communist-run
island with agreements on 14 joint ventures, including oil refining,
nickel production, fishing and tourism. The package consolidated
Venezuela's role as ally and benefactor in easing Cuba's economic crunch
and boosting the regime's chance of retaining power after the death of
the ailing leader Fidel Castro.
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Mr Chávez signed the deals on Monday with Fidel's younger brother Raul,
signalling a determination on both sides to sustain the alliance despite
the apparent lack of chemistry between the Venezuelan and Cuba's acting
leader.
Venezuela's socialist revolution was forging closer ties with its
Caribbean brother, said Mr Chávez. "Cuba and Venezuela could easily form
a confederation of states, two republics in one, two countries in one.
This is no delirium."
The former soldier, who was making his seventh visit to Havana, has used
his country's vast oil reserves to reduce Washington's sway over Latin
America and ease the impact of its embargo on Cuba.
Discounted Venezuelan oil and other deals are valued at around £1.5bn a
year, not far off Moscow's Soviet-era subsidies and a lifeline to a
government struggling to ease crippling fuel, transport and food shortages.
There are plans to modernise the decaying Cienfuegos refinery so that it
could process 65,000 barrels of crude a day, distil gas and make
petrochemical products.
For its part Cuba has dispatched thousands of nurses, doctors and
teachers to slums in Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua and other leftwing
allies.
In addition to socialist solidarity Mr Chávez's talk of confederation
stems from his dream of uniting Latin America along the principles of
Simón Bolívar, the region's 19th century liberation hero.
Nevertheless many middle class Venezuelans are emigrating over fears of
expropriations and socialist indoctrination in schools. Polls show few
Venezuelans want to swap their Americanised consumer culture for Mr
Chávez's vision of a "new socialist man" but that has not dented his
high popularity.
During a weekend meeting with Fidel Castro, Mr Chávez praised him in
quasi-religious tones as "the father of all revolutionaries" and "our
father, who is in the water, earth and air". The 81-year-old Cuban
leader, convalescing from a serious intestinal illness, looked frail but
alert.
A US state department spokesman said in response: "We are delighted that
Fidel Castro has had an opportunity to discuss things with his friend
President Chávez. It's too bad that in almost half a century of misrule
in Cuba, he's never had the same conversation with his own people."
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