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South American Summit Guarantees
Energy
Twelve South American countries
began an energy summit to form a
strategic alliance that
guarantees the region s energy
sources for at least a century.
Venezuelan Energy and Oil
Minister Rafael Ramirez stated
that the First South American
Energy Summit, Monday and
Tuesday on Margarita Island is
aimed at seeking unity beyond
commercial agreements.
"If we can use the oil to change
our reality, then we will do
so," said Ramirez in a statement
to press in Polamar, the Summit
s headquarters, on Sunday..
This approach contradicts
previous analyses that the
summit would be the center of
alleged disagreements between
Brazil and Venezuela on ethanol.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez
has spoken about the use 10-15
percent ethanol to substitute
the most pollutant parts of
gasoline, but he considers it
absurd to use food products such
as corn and sugar cane, to cover
the current fuel demands.
Chavez said the ethanol issue is
not on the Venezuelan agenda,
but it will be discussed if
proposed by Brazilian President
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Chavez says the latter s
proposal is completely different
from that of the US, which plans
to allocate millions of corn and
sugar cane acres to the
production of ethanol.
At the Summit Venezuela will
present a counter-proposal to
the US plan, which includes
considerable use of natural gas.
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