Castro said in the note appearing in the Juventud Rebelde newspaper that his foreign ministry contacted representatives of foreign missions in Cuba and Venezuela early April 12 to "prevent Chavez from immolating himself in the Miraflores Palace, as he was proposing, with the 300 Bolivarian cadre (supporters) and the Honor Guard accompanying him."
Chavez considers Castro a friend and at one point during the crisis did talk with him on the telephone, Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque confirmed last week. He refused to give details. Castro's statements appeared to be in response to news reports from Spain, citing Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar about contacts with Cuba during the Venezuelan crisis.***
Ali Rodriguez, secretary-general of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, has spent the week in Caracas, Venezuela, mulling Chavez's invitation to take the top job at Petroleos de Venezuela SA. Rodriguez had served earlier as energy minister under Chavez, and an OPEC source said there was a 70 percent likelihood that he would accept the president's offer.
Venezuela is the third-largest supplier of oil to the United States and a leading member of OPEC. Petroleos de Venezuela was at the center of a dispute that sparked last week's failed coup against Chavez.
As boss at OPEC, Rodriguez has shared Chavez's interest in trying to keep oil prices high by sharply limiting crude production by the group's 11 member countries. But Jan Stuart, head of research for global energy futures at ABN AMRO in New York, said Rodriguez would be more than just a Chavez puppet if he took the job at PdVSA.***