Chavez oil diplomacy gains ground in Caribbean

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will assert his regional leadership at a summit in Cuba on Friday for Petrocaribe, his initiative to sell oil to Caribbean nations with soft financing.

With oil prices above $90 a barrel, Petrocaribe is offering terms that few can refuse, even the best allies of the United States: deferred payment of 40 percent of their oil bill for up to 25 years, at 1 percent interest.
“Hugo Chavez wants to use Petrocaribe to establish Venezuela as a regional power,” said Dan Erikson, an expert on the Caribbean at the Inter-American Dialogue think tank.

He said Chavez is trying to win support from Caribbean countries “and show that he is basically a good guy trying to help small, poor countries in the region.”

Reuters