Chavez offers oil to leftist allies at 50pc discount
Afp, Caracas
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez late Saturday offered guarantees of cheap energy supplies to his leftist allies from Latin American and the Caribbean, saying his country was "putting its oil reserves at the service of Latin America." Opening a summit meeting with Presidents Evo Morales of Bolivia and Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua as well as Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage, Chavez offered to sell his allies oil at a discount 50-percent, a price break that he said would help their economic and social development. "In the past, oil contributed to the development of the United States," Chavez said in his opening remarks. "Now it is time to make oil serve the development of our people. Venezuela is putting its oil reserves at the service of Latin America." The Venezuelan leader did not specify how much oil he would be ready to sell at a 50-percent discount.
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