Peru to invest in Venezuela’s Orinoco oil belt; Venezuelans to study help on Peruvian refinery
Peru to invest in Venezuela’s Orinoco oil belt; Venezuelans to study help on Peruvian refinery
By Associated Press, Updated: Saturday, January 7, 7:37 PM
CARACAS, Venezuela — The presidents of Venezuela and Peru have reached an agreement for the Peruvian state oil company to invest in development of Venezuela’s eastern Orinoco oil belt.
Venezuela’s state oil monopoly will study a possible role in developing a petrochemical complex in Peru as well as helping Peru increase its production of heavy and extra heavy crude oil.
The formal agreement came during a Saturday meeting between Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Peruvian leader Ollanta Humala.
Later, representatives of the two governments signed agreements establishing mechanisms for transportation, storage, refining and marketing of hydrocarbons. Other pacts cover the sale in Peru of tractors and other farm implements made in Venezuela.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/americas/peru-to-invest-in-venezuelas-orinoco-oil-belt-venezuelans-to-study-help-on-peruvian-refinery/2012/01/07/gIQAAGAphP_story.html?wprss=rss_world
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Though Ollanta Humala is a leftist, he is saddled with a Bushwhack-negotiated U.S. "free trade for the rich" agreement signed by the previous Peruvian administration. This means that Peruvian sovereignty and independence are compromised, and that the U.S., acting on behalf of U.S. and other non-Latin American corporations, can hurt Humala. I'm thinking, for instance, of the way that global oil corporations tried to hurt Chavez after he survived the 2002 rightwing/military coup attempt. For instance, they used the oil bosses' lockout to try to cripple Venezuela's economy and, failing in that effort, U.S. taxpayer money was then used, through entities like the USAID, to organize a recall election against Chavez (which Chavez won, hands down). Humala has been under this kind of threat (the threat of U.S. power and money being used against him) from the beginning, which is probably why he made some noises during his campaign about not allying with Chavez.
But the thing is that "not allying with Chavez" means not allying with much of Latin America, where the Left is clearly in ascendance. Venezuela is strongly allied with Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Uruguay, Paraguay and other countries with leftist governments. Each of these governments is a variation on Latin America's ascendant politics--a movement that is committed to Latin American sovereignty and independence, to "south-south" cooperation for mutual prosperity and defense, and to social justice. The U.S. government, acting as it always does, for transglobal corporate interests, hates all of these governments and especially hates their having each other's backs (thus foiling "divide and conquer" tactics). They've targeted Chavez and Venezuela because Chavez and Venezuelans were the pioneers of this great and historic movement and the thinking in Washington seems to be that, if they can defeat or topple Chavez, they can demoralize this movement throughout the region. It's a losing policy, in the face of an historic leftist democracy revolution, but that doesn't stop the U.S. government from behaving like assholes, no matter which corporate party is in charge.
Ergo, it is highly likely that Humala is under considerable pressure NOT to do deals like this, with Venezuela and I am glad to see that he is resisting that pressure and is, instead, acting in the interests of Peruvians and of the region. This is one of the first clear signs that Humala is not stupid and is not a U.S. tool. His predecessor, Alan Garcia, was both--and the result was that it was Peru, and not Venezuela, that became "isolated." (The U.S. Bushwhack dictate to LatAm leaders was that they "must isolate Chavez," to which Argentina's former president, the late Nestor Kirchner, famously replied, "But he's my brother!"
Colombia, Peru and, finally, Honduras, all became truly isolated, as the result of U.S. domination--Colombia and Honduras in the worst ways possible--rampant murder, mafia control (protection of the trillion+ dollar cocaine trade), cruel land theft (5 MILLION peasant farmers displaced from their lands in Colombia), corruption, and massive corporate exploitation, with the Pentagon setting up more military bases and funding and controlling the Colombian and Honduran militaries. Peru was heading in this fascist direction when the voters threw out the "neo-liberals" and elected Humala. I hope that he will ultimately be able to free Peru from the corrupt, failed, murderous U.S. "war on drugs" and from U.S. "free trade for the rich" but it will be quite a struggle, I fear.