Venezuela’s Mega Gas Pipeline Plans Held Up

CARACAS – The South American mega-pipeline project to transport natural gas from the Caribbean to the River Plate, supplying a large part of Brazil en route, “has cooled down because of attacks from within South America itself” and due to attempts by the United States to delay the plans, complained Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

The massive project was launched in Rio de Janeiro in April 2006 by Chavez and Presidents Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil and Nestor Kirchner of Argentina. The cost of laying 8,000 kilometres of pipeline to link their three countries as well as Paraguay, Uruguay, Peru and Ecuador, is estimated at 25 billion dollars.
The pipeline would either cross Brazil