El Salvador denies asylum to Venezuelan ex-officers

[Judi Lynn]

El Salvador denies asylum to Venezuelan ex-officers
03 Dec 2004 16:01:15 GMT

Source: Reuters

CARACAS, Venezuela, Dec 3 (Reuters) - El Salvador on Friday denied a request for asylum from two Venezuelan former police commanders facing charges for unsolved killings during a 2002 coup against President Hugo Chavez.

After a week spent inside the Salvadoran embassy in Caracas, former city police chiefs Henry Vivas and Lazaro Forero were handed over to Venezuelan security forces who detained them.

"We reached the conclusion that political asylum was not appropriate and we decided to deny the request," El Salvador Foreign Minister Francisco Lainez told Venezuelan television in a telephone interview.

He said Venezuela, which supplies oil to El Salvador under preferential terms, had given guarantees that their lives and rights would be respected.

Vivas and Forero face homicide charges over the deaths of several people shot and killed during an April 2002 coup that deposed left-winger Chavez for 48 hours. They deny the charges.
(snip/...)

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N03701776.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Note this sentence:

He said Venezuela, which supplies oil to El Salvador under preferential terms, had given guarantees that their lives and rights would be respected.

Wanted to make sure anyone who was interested in the fact that Cuba gets an adjusted price for oil also knows that the poorer Latin American and Caribbean countries have been participants in this arrangement via the San José Accord. I believe Mexico is the other country, along with Venezuela making special prices available for these countries.

It's also important to emphasise the point that Hugo Chavez didn't create this arrangement to aid Fidel Castro. Certain rightwingers have mangled the facts to represent the arrangement as being "Hugo Chavez give Fidel Castro free oil," or some such nonsense. It started before Hugo Chavez was elected the President of Venezuela:

Venezuela and Mexico renew oil supply accord
03-08-01 The governments of Venezuela and Mexico renewed, for the 21st time, the accord to provide oil to 11 Central American and Caribbean countries. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Luis Davila said the document was signed simultaneously in Caracas by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and in Mexico City by President Vicente Fox.
Under the agreement, known as the "San Jose Accord," the two countries will each supply 80,000 barrels of oil and other petroleum products every day to the 11 Central American and Caribbean countries. The beneficiaries of this agreement include Barbados, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama and the Dominican Republic.

These nations do not have to pay in cash for their oil purchases. Instead, they can use about 5 % of their budgets to finance development projects carried out by Venezuelan or Mexican firms. Since 1980, when the accord was signed in Costa Rica's capital of San Jose, 145 projects worth $ 1.687 bn have been launched, said Foreign Minister Davila.
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http://www.gasandoil.com/goc/news/ntl13585.htm~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Last Updated: Aug 4th, 2004 - 17:56:01

Top Petroleum News


Mexico and Venezuela renew San Jose Accord
By EFE

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.

The San Jose Accord came into existence on Aug. 3, 1980, and it has never been suspended.

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.
(snip/...)

http://www.latinpetroleum.com/article_3542.shtml~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~One of these is the San Jose Accord, through which both Venezuela and Mexico sell oil to these countries under highly favourable credit conditions.

Nevertheless, with regard to Trinidad and Tobago, which produces and exports oil and gas, Venezuelan Energy Minister Rafael Ramírez said his country is interested in creating a ”Petrocaribbean”, similar to the ”Petrosur” of South America, with agreements on cooperation, trade and joint business ventures.

The motivation behind all of these efforts, as former Venezuelan OPEC (Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries) governor Elie Habalián told IPS, is ”the need for Venezuela and other energy producers in the region to attend to the energy needs of their Latin American neighbours, so that they can all help one another in developing their markets, promoting integration and overcoming poverty.”
(snip/...)http://www.wbai.org/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=3979&Itemid=0

[bemildred]

1. Good. Let these swine face trial like any other criminals.

As a warning to the others to respect the rule of law.

[Imperialism Inc.]

2. Wasn't it El Salvador that gave refuge

to some of the higher ups involved in the coup?
I wonder if this is an indication that US instructions have changed since the 2004 recall referendum.