----- Original Message -----
From: Walter Lippmann <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: IRL32-ACTION list <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; Change Links <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>;
CubaNews <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Tuesday, October 31, 2000 9:46 PM
Subject: [CubaNews] Fidel and Chavez sign energy agreement
NOTE: This article spells out in very great detail
the many provisions of the Cuba-Venezuela
oil for goods and services agreement. Nothing
this detailed has appeared in the major media.
________________________
October 30, 2000
Fidel and Ch�vez sign energy agreement
- Cuban president is presented with the Liberator's Order
- Further migratory and cultural agreements also signed
http://www.granma.cu/ingles/no1/45petroleo-i.html
THE presidents of Cuba and Venezuela, Fidel Castro and Hugo
Ch�vez, have signed the Caracas Energy Agreement in the
Ayacucho Salon of Caracas' Miraflores Palace, marking the
conclusion of an official visit by the Cuban head of state.
The agreement, which was signed during a ceremony broadcast
live on Cuban television, relates to the energy cooperation
program
and was recently signed by other Central American and Caribbean
countries.
The document will go into effect immediately following its
signing (October 30) and will remain valid for five years.
It is then extendable for further five-year periods, unless
one of the parties declines to continue.
The signing of the agreement by both presidents shows their
desire to "strengthen traditional ties of friendship" between the
two peoples and to promote progress in their economies through
the reciprocal advantages that come from effective cooperation.
The third of the agreement's seven articles specifies that
Venezuela will supply the island with up to 53,000 barrels of
crude oil and its derivatives on a daily basis, in line with a
three-month schedule.
The second article specifies that Cuba, for its part, will supply
services and technologies within its capabilities, which will be
defined each year. It also lays out the specifications and
modifications of the total cash payments to be made.
Venezuela will pay in petroleum and its derivatives for the
services and technologies it receives from Cuba at the
current world market rate.
A special provision in the agreement establishes that Cuba will
provide the services of its doctors, medical specialists and
health technicians free of charge. This personnel will work in
areas where it will not displace existing medical staff. The
agreement also specifies that Venezuela will pay the costs
of accommodation, food and internal transportation for Cuban
medical staff, while Cuba will pay their salaries, among other
expenses.
A joint commission, which will meet on an annual basis
alternating between the two country's capitals, is also
created by the agreement. Venezuelan trade ministers
and Cuban minister for economic cooperation and
foreign investment will head the commission.
Also included in the energy agreement is a migratory
accord, "to facilitate the movement of specialists and
officials" involved with its application.
There has been considerable interest in the agreement's
first appendix, in which the more than 120 goods and
services offered by Cuba are detailed. Among the services
are those linked to the sugar industry, such as technical
assistance in the running of refineries, the development
of sugarcane agriculture and participation in the construction
of three new refineries.
Also included is the tourism industry (training in hotel manage-
ment, advice on the Venezuelan strategic tourism plan and
the creation of a joint hotel-school in Venezuela); agriculture
(assistance with urban agriculture projects, irrigation, drainage
and the production of fertilizers); education (Venezuelan special
and elementary schools); transportation services (railroads);
sports (up to 3,000 trainers will be provided); and health
(assistance to be provided in isolated areas of Venezuela
where there are no or insufficient existing doctors, along with
drug addiction treatment and transplants in Cuba).
Among the goods offered by Cuba are some of the latest
pieces of medical equipment, such as Cardiocid, Medicid-4,
SUMA, vaccinations and the Biorat rat killer, which was used
with great success in Vargas during the country's recent
disaster.
The cultural agreement signed by the two presidents aims to
strengthen friendship and solidarity relations even further and
to promote cultural cooperation, which was a dream of Bol�var's
and Mart�'s.
Article One of this agreement specifies that Venezuela has
bought the former Santa Maria Academy, where Jos� Mart�
held a professorship in French literature and grammar.
Article Two specifies that the academy will become the Jos�
Mart� House of Our America, similar to the Sim�n Bol�var House
established in Havana since 1993. Its aim will be to contribute
to the integration of Latin America and the Caribbean and it will
also be a center for research and publishing on subjects related
to Bol�var's and Mart�'s principles of democracy, freedom,
equality, sovereignty, self-determination, social justice and
unity in Our America.
After the signing of the agreements, the Venezuelan head
of state decorated President Fidel Castro with the Sim�n
Bol�var Liberator's Order.
For his part, Fidel presented Ch�vez with a replica of the
statue of Jos� Mart� cradling a small child in his arms that
stands in Havana's Anti-Imperialist Tribunal.
During the ceremony, which was of great significance for
both countries, the two presidents were flanked by their
respective foreign ministers, Felipe P�rez Roque and
Jos� Vicente Rangel.
. M.C.
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