…………….. Chavez's visit to Brazil was the third since Silva took office on Jan. 1, but this was the first specifically to discuss business, not politics. For years, Brazil was little more than a customer for Venezuelan oil. But the populist Chavez has pushed for closer ties with Silva, Brazil's first leftist president in 40 years.
……………. The refinery is a long-standing economic development idea to meet the needs of Brazil's north and northeast, a vast poverty-stricken region with a population of 40 million - nearly a fourth of Brazil's 170 million people and almost double Venezuela's 24 million. It would also improve refining capacity for Venezuela and Brazil, Chavez said. Brazil exports crude oil, but must import gasoline because it lacks refining capacity. "We want to refine oil in or as close to Venezuela as possible - in the Caribbean, in the Andes or here in Brazil," he said. "We can refine all this oil here and sell gasoline not only in South America but also in the Caribbean and Africa." ***
A smaller group of supporters of Castro and Chavez, many carrying posters of Castro, confronted them. The two sides exchanged taunts and insults, then started throwing stones and bottles. Police fired tear gas to separate them. The topic of communist-ruled Cuba, where Castro is facing a storm of international criticism over his crackdown, is highly sensitive in Venezuela. Venezuelan President Chavez, a former paratrooper who was first elected in 1998, is a close friend and political ally of the Cuban leader and has turned his oil-rich country into the Caribbean island's single biggest trading partner.
Venezuela ships oil to Cuba under a preferential energy accord and several hundred Cuban doctors, coaches and sugar specialists work in the South American country. Foes of Chavez accuse him of trying to imitate the Cuban leader and of seeking to install Cuba-style communism in Venezuela. Venezuela was the only country in Latin America to vote with Cuba this month against a U.N. Human Rights Commission resolution calling on the communist state to accept a visit by a U.N. envoy to probe alleged abuses. The resolution was passed overall by 24 votes to 20, with nine abstentions. [End]