***** New York Times 27 December 2002 Brazil Sends Gasoline at Venezuelan's Request
By LARRY ROHTER RIO DE JANEIRO, Dec. 26 - In a show of support for Venezuela's embattled president, Hugo Chávez, the Brazilian government has sent an emergency shipment of 520,000 barrels of gasoline to help relieve shortages caused by a nationwide general strike now in its fourth week, government officials here said today.... A spokeswoman for the Brazilian state oil company, Petrobrás, confirmed that the shipment, made at Mr. Chávez's request, was on its way to Venezuela. She said it was expected to arrive on Friday or Saturday. Commercial and political ties between the two countries have strengthened considerably since Mr. Chávez took office in February 1999, proclaiming his intent to lead a peaceful social revolution. President Fernando Henrique Cardoso of Brazil approved the gasoline shipment, and there are indications that his successor-elect, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, of the left-wing Workers Party, was also involved in the decision. Mr. da Silva takes office on Wednesday and has a longstanding personal and ideological affinity with Mr. Chávez, who is also reported to have asked Brazil to supply crews to operate Venezuelan oil tankers. "He thinks like I do," Mr. da Silva said earlier this year, adding that while the Venezuelan leader can be "excessively impetuous" at times, he is "a killer ball-handler" who deserves praise for his daring. Mr. Chávez in turn has said "Lula is a great man" whose rise to power he has wished for "day and night." After Mr. da Silva won a landslide victory here in October, Mr. Chávez said he hoped Brazil would join Venezuela and Cuba in establishing an "axis of good" in the hemisphere. Earlier this month, Mr. da Silva sent one of his chief foreign policy advisers, Marco Aurelio García, to Caracas to assess the crisis. In interviews with Brazilian newspapers after his return, Mr. García said the new Brazilian government wanted to "contribute to Venezuelan stability" and accused Mr. Chávez's opponents of seeking to provoke "a situation of uncontrollable violence" that would cripple the world economy. "Imagine the No. 5 oil producer with a civil war and Iraq with a war that is not at all civil," Mr. García said in the Rio daily O Globo on Tuesday. "That would bring disastrous consequences."... <http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/27/international/americas/27BRAZ.html> ***** ***** Brazil to swap gasoline to fuel-starved Venezuela By an OGJ correspondent RIO DE JANEIRO, Dec. 26 -- In a swap for future crude oil deliveries from Venezuela, Petroleos Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) has agreed to provide 520,000 l of gasoline to Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) now to relieve the fuel shortage caused by a general strike that has virtually shut down Venezuela's national oil company. That shipment should arrive in Venezuela "by the end of this week," Petrobras Pres. Francisco Gros told OGJ Online.... Acting on a personal appeal from Chavez, Brazil's President Fernando Henrique Cardoso requested Monday that Petrobras provide the gasoline to Venezuela. Brazil is a net importer of crude.... Marco Aurélio Garcia, international representative of Brazil's President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, recently returned from a 4-day visit to Venezuela where he reportedly promised Chavez that Lula would send two tankers: one loaded with gasoline and the other empty. Chavez also asked for technicians to unload crude in neighboring countries. <http://ogj.pennnet.com/articles/web_article_display.cfm?ARTICLE_CATEGORY=GenIn&ARTICLE_ID=164490> ***** -- Yoshie * Calendar of Events in Columbus: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html> * Anti-War Activist Resources: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/activist.html> * Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/> _______________________________________________ Leninist-International mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international
