Energy trade ties dominate EU-Latin America summit (AFP)

[Up2Late]

(Did they not invite George? Or did he turn down the invite? And if anyone has anymore info about this Greenpeace Protest, I'd love to see...auh..I mean...READ more.) ;-)

Energy trade ties dominate EU-Latin America summit

12/05/2006 19h39


Leaders were amused - mostly - by a Greenpeace protester

VIENNA (AFP) - Bolivian President Evo Morales moved to reassure investors at an EU-Latin American summit dominated by his warning that foreign firms would not be compensated for nationalized oil and gas resources.

Bolivia will guarantee "genuine, long-lasting legal security" to foreign companies operating on its territory, Morales said in a letter sent to Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos on Thursday and made public Friday at the summit in Vienna.

Morales also said Bolivia would like to become a member of the powerful OPEC oil cartel, as he continued a charm offensive since shocking the summit Thursday by saying his government would not compensate foreign firms in his country's nationalization.

Morales has been trying to strike a more reasonable tone since then. About joining the 11-nation Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, Morales told reporters: "Who wouldn't like to be one of those countries?" and added: "How can we enter OPEC if we do not control our natural resources?"

(more at link)

<http://www.afp.com/english/news/stories/060512193650.cfq3ssz4.html>

[Up2Late]

1. kick n/t

:kick:

[ShockediSay]

2. give that girl a hand ..... oops

looks like somebody did

[Peace Patriot]

3. Steady, steady, Evo, steady...he is such a good man! An absolutely

radiant face. It almost makes you weep with joy to think that he is president of a country! An indigenous Andes Indian president of Bolivia!

It boggles the mind. And it's happening all over South America--a simply amazing, peaceful, democratic, leftist revolution.

-------

"The time of the people has come." --Evo Morales

[Up2Late]

4. I think most here like what we see in Evo and Hugo, but few have...

...said what they think of the new President of Chile, why is that? Any opinion of her?

Here's another article, with some very strong comments of support from Hugo Chavez for her:

Mercosur
Friday, 12 May (2006)

Bachelet defends Morales and Chavez, indirectly mocks Bush

President Michelle Bachelet defended fellow Latin American leaders Evo Morales and Hugo Chavez Wednesday and asked world leaders not to “demonize” Latin America.

Bachelet is in Europe to attend the European Union and Latin America and Caribbean summit in Vienna on May 11 to13.

“I would not want us to return to the Cold War era where we ‘demonize’ one country or another. What we have witnessed in these countries (Bolivia and Venezuela) is that they are looking for governments and leaders that will work to eradicate poverty and eliminate inequality,” said Bachelet.

Bachelet was speaking in defense of the left-wing “power axis” between Bolivian President Morales, Venezuela’s Chavez and Cuba’s Fidel Castro, an alliance which alarms many conservative nations like the United States. Her allusion to a “power axis” is read as an indirect slam on U.S. President Bush, who has invoked similar phraseology in vilifying nations like North Korea and Iran.

Bachelet’s support provoked Chavez to eulogize his Chilean counterpart. “Michelle Bachelet is an extraordinary human being, an extraordinary friend. Woman, socialist, ‘allendista.’ We all support her. I am a ‘michellista,’” he said during his visit to Rome on Wednesday.

(more at link)

<http://www.mercopress.com/Detalle.asp?NUM=7861>