Chavez Blames U.S.
Invasion Of Iraq For
Soaring Oil Prices
Venezuelan President
Hugo Chavez said on
Thursday that the U.S.
invasion of Iraq is
partly to blame for
rising oil prices.
Oil producing countries
are not to be held
responsible for the
surge in oil prices, but
the United States is
"partially to blame" for
it, Chavez told a press
conference during a
visit to Recife in
northeastern Brazil.
During this visit,
Chavez met his Brazilian
counterpart Luiz Inacio
Lula da Silva and the
two countries'
state-owned oil and gas
companies, Petrobras and
PDVSA, signed a
cooperation agreement.
Chavez said as a member
of the Organization of
Petroleum Exporting
Countries (OPEC),
Venezuela favors the
fixing-price system that
has worked well for
three years, but the
U.S. invasion of Iraq
has brought instability
to the market.
Venezuela is not
interested in oil price
hikes, and on the
contrary, it hopes to
see prices stabilize and
that the U.S. economic
crisis does not worsen.
"May they leave that
situation quickly, but
they will obviously have
to revise their economic
policies, which have
affected the whole world
so much," he said.
Chavez also pointed out
that Venezuela and
Brazil have not been
harmed by the financial
crisis, thanks to the
diversification of their
exports.
The two countries should
seek more common ground
and further promote
their ties, the
Venezuelan president
added. |
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