by Nidia Diaz

18-08-07 One day in the not-so-distant future historians will be able to define the dates and routes that led to human beings’ definitive emancipation from the forces that, from the remotest times, have divided them into rich and poor, masters and slaves.
I have no doubt that, at that point, the efforts and leadership of President Hugo Chavez to construct an energy model of solidarity as the basis for winning real Latin American independence, the latter will have to be taken into account -- among other extremely important events -- as essential to the final push into the abyss of the old system whose paternity in terms of exclusion and social marginalization and dependence nobody questions.

Above all, because it is taking place in an international scenario in which the industrialized North, hegemonized by Washington, has unleashed genocidal wars and defrayed more than a few fratricides to seize energy sources in support of its squandering and demented style of consumerism. In the decline of its existence its need to control the natural resources of others has become more brutal and aberrant.
Along that route, however, it is coming up against a new liberating strategy that has its real road in the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), but which will be reached by innumerable paths covering respect for political and ideological pluralism, and the rate that this inevitably imposes.

The recently concluded tour of President Chavez through Argentina, Uruguay, Ecuador and Bolivia, and the 3rd PetroCaribe Summit coming as the closing touch in Caracas have been paradigmatic in that new model of integration being constructed, not without difficulties, and which seeks its most secure supports in unity and energy.
The Venezuelan leader began his tour in Argentina where he signed an agreement with his counterpart Nestor Kirchner for the purchase of $ 500 mm debt bonds, vital for that nation which, since defaulting in 2001, has lacked access to credits from the imperialist usurers who control the international financial agencies. This is the third time in the last two years that Venezuela has utilized this financial mechanism, exempt from any conditions.

At the same time the two presidents agreed to the construction in Bahia Blanca of a plant for processing Venezuelan liquid gas, at a cost of $ 400 mm, an important decision at a time in which Argentina is suffering a serious energy crisis.
In Uruguay, the second leg of his tour, the Bolivarian leader signed an Energy Security Treaty with Tabare Vasquez permitting the state agencies ANCAP (National Administration of Fuel, Alcohol and Portland) and PdVSA to work together with the aim of doubling the capacity of the Uruguayan La Teja refinery and raising its production level to 100,000 bpd. At the same time, they finalized agreements on the constitution of a joint venture via which both nations will pump crude oil from the Orinoco Belt, the largest world reserve of that material. With these agreements Uruguay can guarantee its long-term energy needs.

The visit to the two nations made it possible for the host presidents to reiterate to Chavez their firm decision to support Venezuela’s entry into Mercosur, a process already approved by their respective legislatures, but which is still caught up in the Brazilian and Paraguayan Parliaments, where forces of the political right in the service of Washington are placing obstacles in the way, without the executives of the two nations asserting the prerogatives inherent in their positions.
Evaluating the energy agreements signed, the words of Tabare Vasquez were significant when he publicly stated: “What other government in the world has made an offer of such magnitude and grandeur?”
Kirchner had affirmed something similar in Buenos Aires: “We Argentines should be and must be very obliged (to Chavez) because every time that we have needed him, he’s been there.”

In Ecuador and Bolivia the Venezuelan leader received great demonstrations of friendship and affection. In Quito, Chavez signed a $ 5 bn investment agreement with his counterpart Rafael Correa for the construction of a refinery in Manabi, with a processing capacity of 300,000 barrels of crude per day, making it the largest refinery on the Latin American Pacific coast. Venezuela is to supply Ecuador with new technologies for treating mature crude, which would enable PetroEcuador to improve production of national crude.
They also signed two memorandums of intent and a joint statement expressing the conviction that the energy alliance being constructed is and will be the backbone of the Latin American integration process. A branch of the Economic and Social Development Bank (BNDES) was also opened during the Venezuelan president’s visit.

As President Rafael Correa told him, “Ecuador is very much in favour” of entry into the ALBA, while also expressing the hope that Venezuela will return to the Central American Common Market (CAN), to which the eminent visitor replied: “That’s not impossible.”
In a warm and fraternal spirit, the Ecuadorian leader highlighted that, without the need to, without any desire for personal gain, but out of a profound sentiment of solidarity, the Bolivarian government is the standard-bearer in the region in efforts to promote energy integration. Bolivia, a full member of the ALBA, was the last leg of Chavez’ Latin American tour and, in the capital, both leaders signed an agreement to create a joint oil company, Petroandina, comprising the Bolivian state YPFB and PdVSA, to initiate the exploration of hydrocarbons north of La Paz, Tarija and Cuquisaca.

Finally, the city of Tarija was the venue for the meeting of Evo Morales, Nestor Kirchner and Hugo Chavez, described as key by analysts and political observers. It was Carlos Villegas, the Bolivian hydrocarbons minister, who revealed that the energy agreements signed by the three leaders amount to investments of more than $ 1.1 bn for essential works for the production of natural gas, and the creation of joint ventures for oil exploration and the generation of electrical energy.
This latest Latin American tour of President Hugo Chavez lasted for five days during which he placed Venezuelan crude at the disposition of the countries visited as a guarantee for the consolidation of energy sovereignty.

The Bolivarian Revolution is a gesture of generosity that is continuing to place its most prized natural resource in the hands of its Latin American sister nations, free of conditions and far less, personal gain.
Oil has become the apple of discord in the industrialized North, but here in Latin America, five centuries after the conquest and colonialization, it is becoming the principal weapon for its second and definitive independence.