Venezuela's Chavez creates Caribbean energy pact

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PUERTO LA CRUZ, Venezuela (Reuters) - Oil exporter Venezuela signed an energy cooperation pact on Wednesday with 13 Caribbean states, including Cuba, in a move that strengthened Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's political challenge to U.S. influence in the region.


The Petrocaribe alliance, under which Venezuela will directly supply cheaper oil to its partners, will cut the energy bills of Caribbean states whose small island economies are struggling to cope with soaring world oil prices.

But in a disappointment for Chavez, two Caribbean states, fellow oil and gas producer Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados, did not initial the Petrocaribe accord. Trinidad expressed reservations the deal could undercut its own oil shipments.

Nationalist Chavez and other Caribbean leaders hailed the energy pact as a move that will increase their collective sovereignty and economic independence in a region long dominated by U.S. political and commercial power.

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Sorry if dupe, didn't see another.

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1. Duplicate

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1592817

Search hint: One important word is the best way to search. In this case I put petrocarib in the search box and came up with the results.