Posted on 05/29/2006 1:37:43 PM PDT by decimon
QUITO, Ecuador - Ecuador has turned down Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's invitation to join an energy alliance aimed at challenging Washington's economic influence in the region, the government's spokesman said Monday.
Communications Secretary Enrique Proano said Chavez will be in Quito on Tuesday to sign two bilateral accords: one to offer Ecuador's state-run petroleum company, Petroecuador, technical advice and another to refine Ecuadorean crude oil in Venezuela at a discount.
But Proano said President Alfredo Palacio's government turned down Chavez's request to join Venezuela's "Petroamerica" initiative, under which Venezuela has agreed to sell fuel to other countries in the region on preferential terms to rival the U.S.-backed Free Trade Area of the Americas.
Chavez was told Ecuador was interested only in the two accords, "and we will not go further than that," Proano told Channel 8 television.
He said the cooperation between Ecuador and Venezuela "does not signify in any way an alliance with Mr. Chavez, nor a distancing from the United States."
The Bush administration announced May 17 it had broken off free trade negotiations with Ecuador in response to the Andean nation's decision to annul U.S.-based Occidental Petroleum Corp.'s contract and seize its facilities over a contract dispute.
Chavez---Come into my parlor says the parlor, says the spider to the fly.
Ecuador---Do we realy look stupid enough to ally ourselves with a potential Saddam Hussein?
What's in it for the Ecuadorans? Probably nothing.
Whats in it for the Ecuadorians is the same thing Hitler gave the Poles. Being invaded & enslaved by a madman.
Maybe not right away but certainly , shortly down the road.
Don't think Chavez would act militarily as those S.A. wars never end or accomplish anything. But he'd soon enough be calling the shots in that region.
Chavez---madman
Ecuador---not stuck on stupid.
That probably sums it up.
sounds interesting
Ecuador sits on the Equator. What do they need energy for?
I have lived in Ecuador, and I know people who work for Petroecuador. According to some of them, it was a huge mistake to kick Oxy out of the country. Oxy’s taxes supported the government, and now that the oil fields are state run, Ecuador is in trouble. This all came about because some politicians felt that Ecuador’s sovereignty was being threatened by a large oil company, well now it is being threatened by another country in the region. If things heat up expect the U.S. to step in, we have in air base in the coastal city of Manta, and a interest in stability due to the U.S. Dollar being used there, and Ecuador’s location.
I think it's always a huge mistake to nationalize industry.
I hope we don't have to step in. Maybe Ecuador will cut a deal with Occidental to back out of the spot it is now in.
Air conditioning.
The US has an airbase in Ecuador? I never knew that..
They're likely not the dirt-poor peons the left feeds off of.
He isnt ordering all those weapons from Russia for skeet shooting.
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