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SPECIAL NOTE:

Because time doesn't allow me to pay equal attention to the Latin American region, any contribution consisting of pointful articles and comments is welcome for the development of this website.

The only thing I demand is earnestness, so my request to you is to not make my life harder than it already is, posting unfit funny or malicious comments.

For the sake of the communist cause, please try to provide reliable and serious information.

Articles and any worthwhile information can be posted in the INTERACTIVE POSTING SECTION that you will find at the link below:

http://putinlatinamerica.blogspot.com/2005/11/interactive-posting-section.html

Anticipated thanks.

~Vera

VLADIMIR PUTIN POLITICAL ANALYSIS WEBSITE

http://putinfreakshow.blogspot.com/

CURRENT ARTICLES:

Bolivian president makes World tour, meets Chirac, Zapatero, Javier Solana

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TITLES:

Associated Press Update 3:
Morales Aligns Himself With Castro, Chavez

By CHRISTOPHER TOOTHAKER , 01.03.2006, 11:26 PM

http://www.forbes.com/technology/feeds/ap/2006/01/03/ap2426660.html

Chávez makes waves again in Latin America

http://english.eluniversal.com/2006/01/07/en_pol_art_07A651627.shtml

Morales Holds Talks with Javier Solana

http://www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID=%7B954F089F-AB67-4B86-80C5-F62C1DB27BB3%7D&language=EN

EU warns Bolivian leader over coca

http://www.upi.com/SecurityTerrorism/view.php?StoryID=20060106-103305-8484r

AFX News Limited
EU urges Bolivian president-elect Morales to ensure stability
01.06.2006, 01:12 AM

http://www.forbes.com/work/feeds/afx/2006/01/06/afx2431843.html

Saturday, 7 January 2006, 19:05 GMT
Morales seeks support from France

Sunday January 08, 2006

http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/story.asp?j=168131782&p=y68y3z488

Solana, Morales discuss EU-Bolivian ties
Brussels, Jan 6, IRNA

http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/line-17/0601061657101826.htm

Morales firm on control of resources

Thursday 05 January 2006, 9:02 Makka Time, 6:02 GMT

Zapatero lobbies Morales over Bolivia energy nationalisation plans

By Leslie Crawford in Madrid Published:
January 5 2006 02:00 Last updated: January 5 2006 02:00

Spain’s Zapatero Meets President-elect Evo Morales

Morales takes to the world stage

By James Painter BBC Latin America analyst

Chavez, Morales 'fuel up' an axis

[ Wednesday, January 04, 2006 11:18:06 pm REUTERS ]

Spain cancels Bolivian debt as Morales tour starts
By Joe Ortiz
JANUARY 5, 2006

See all the full-length articles at the link below:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/VladimirPutinRoundTable/message/299

Morales seeks support from France

Mr Morales is hoping to gain international support

Bolivia's President-elect Evo Morales has met French President Jacques Chirac in Paris on the latest stage of an international tour.

The two leaders discussed proposals by Mr Morales to partially nationalise Bolivia's gas and oil reserves.

The French energy firm, Total, is one of several foreign companies involved in Bolivia's natural gas industry.

Mr Morales, wearing his trademark jeans and shirt, thanked Mr Chirac for supporting Bolivia's indigenous people.

French officials said the Bolivian leader told Mr Chirac that he wants foreign firms, including Total, to continue to invest in his country, which has the second largest gas reserves in South America after Venezuela.

Mr Chirac told Mr Morales it was important to provide legal security for foreign investors in its gas and oil supplies.

Mr Morales, a former union leader, said he had received "unconditional solidarity and support" from Mr Chirac.

"I want to express my respect and admiration for the president of France and his government for defending the rights of the indigenous peoples of America," he said.

He said Mr Chirac expressed his "admiration for the profound changes we are undertaking" and pledged social and financial support to Bolivia.

The French president made no comment to reporters following his 45-minute meeting with the Latin American leader.

'Happy'

Earlier, his office said Mr Chirac was "very happy to see the first representative of an Indian nation assume the responsibilities of the president of Bolivia".

Mr Morales, an Aymara Indian from a poor region in the Bolivian highlands, will become Bolivia's first indigenous leader in its 180-year history when he takes office on 22 January.

Mr Morales visited the French president's ornate 18th century Elysee Palace wearing black jeans and an open-collar shirt under a leather jacket.

Over the past four days, Mr Morales has also visited Venezuela, Spain, Belgium and Holland and France. He heads next to China, South Africa and Brazil.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4591216.stm

4 January 2006 - Main Titles

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Chile Weighs Gas Alliance with Venezuela

Prensa Latina, Cuba - 12 hours ago... From Venezuela´s viewpoint, an agreement with Chile would contribute to developing the integration projects being fostered by President Hugo Chávez, and strengthening bilateral relations , which have gone through difficult moments in recent...

http://www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID=%7BAFCC46CD-AE2C-449C-8700-DEF03B575B7A%7D)&language=EN

Venezuela, Bolivia to Discuss Oil Issues

CARACAS, Venezuela Jan 3, 2006 — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said the nationalization of Bolivia's oil and natural gas resources would be a topic when he meets Tuesday with visiting Bolivian President-elect Evo Morales.

"Hydrocarbons and their nationalization we're going to talk about that," Chavez told reporters at Caracas' international airport, where a red carpet and full military honors greeted Morales.
Morales, who takes office Jan. 22, made nationalization a part of his successful presidential campaign.

He is being closely watched on how he manages Bolivia's vast natural gas resources the second-largest in South America after Venezuela. He has assured private companies operating there that he will respect their Bolivian assets but has also said the country's vast reserves have been "looted" and that current production contracts must be renegotiated.

France's Total SA and the Spanish-Argentine Repsol YPF SA are among the foreign oil companies with big investments in Bolivia.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1465848


January 1, 2006

Venezuela's Private Oil Fields Back Under Government Control

By Armando Duke

(AXcess News) Caracas, Venezuela - Sunday, Venezuelan oil minister Rafael Ramirez said that the government "has successfully completed the recovery of the 32 oil fields whose control was ceded to private hands in the 1990s under concessions allowing companies to independently pump oil under contract."

Operating agreements the private oil companies and the Venevuelan government had to operate the oil fields expired December 31st when the companies failed to convert them into joint ventures with the State owned Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA). The joint ventures were to give majority control to PDVSA. As a result of the agreements not converting, Venezuela took back the fields.

The 32 operating agreements were signed between 1990 and 1997 during the opening of Venezuela's petroleum industry to private and foreign capital. At the time those agreements were entered into the price of oil was below $10 a barrel and the fields themselves were low-flow, meaning the rate of oil that could be pumped per day wasn't worth the PDVSA investing its resources to put them into production.

With the rise in oil prices President Hugo Chavez wanted more revenue out of Venezuela's oil production, so in 2001, he passed a new law requiring all oil field production to be majority controled by Venezuela.

Venezuela had threatened to reclaim oil fields from companies that refused to sign the so-called transitional joint-venture agreements, which will later be converted into permanent agreements with PDVSA.

Ramirez has said the amount the private companies have invested in the fields will determine the amount of control they have. In some cases, Zenezuela could see up to 90 percent ownership, which many oil companies have resisted for as long as possible.
BP PLC, Chevron Corp., Royal Dutch Shell and Petrobras SA were among those that signed earlier.

The 32 oil fields have been responsible for about 500,000 of Venezuela's official declared production of 3.2 million barrels a day.

Venezuela is the world's fifth-largest oil exporter and has the largest proven reserves outside of the Mideast.

http://www.axcessnews.com/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=7423

Bolivia's president-elect to visit Venezuela

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Bolivia's president-elect to visit Venezuela

www.chinaview.cn 2006-01-02 14:16:55

LIMA, Jan. 1 (Xinhuanet) -- Bolivia's President-elect Evo Morales will head for Venezuela on Tuesday to meet with President Hugo Chavez as part of his world tour, his spokesman said on Sunday.

Morales' Venezuelan visit follows a Dec. 31 visit to Cuba, where he and Cuban leader Fidel Castro discussed ways to strengthen their countries' bilateral relations.
Morales plans a brief six-hour stop in Venezuela's capital before starting a tour of several countries including European countries, South Africa and Brazil, said his spokesman Alex Contreras.

Unlike his trip to Cuba, where he took a large support team of 60, Morales' party for his Venezuelan and European visits will be small, including his economic adviser Carlos Villegas, the spokesman said.

Like Castro, Chavez also, has offered aid to Morales' government, including a program to provide identity documents for thousands of peasants in Bolivia's rural areas, said Contreras.
Morales won the presidential elections on Dec. 18 with nearly 54 percent of the votes. Castro is the first head of state that Morales has met with since the elections. He officially takes office on Jan. 22.

Enditem

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-01/02/content_4000189.htm

Putin Takes Gas Rich Bolivia

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While in Chile he was not as successful as expected, rather being set to compromise with Bush there, Putin takes Chile instead.

The political change in Bolivia will most likely not harm Repsol and Total's Latin American business.

~Vera

See articles at the link below:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/VladimirPutinRoundTable/message/289

Bubbling crude plans by the Bush team aimed at Venezuela's Chávez

November 29th, 2005 11:26 AM

Heading SouthBubbling crude plans by the Bush team aimed at Venezuela's Chávez
by James Ridgeway

With Iraqi oil firmly under his control, the president can now turn to Venezuela and Hugo Chávez, who the Bush administration says is out to make himself into a new Simón Bolívar. A recent report called "Crude Designs," by a British group, says Western oil companies are poised to take control of Iraqi oil after next month's election. The Iraqis will be left with 17 out of some 80 oil fields.

Controlling Iraqi oil will help the U.S. in dominating—at least for a little while longer—world oil. But our overall goal is to become less dependent on the Middle East and other faraway sources and develop petroleum resources nearer to home. Venezuela is a prime target since it not only has a lot of oil, but over the years has placidly allowed us to take what we want.

George W. Bush's dislike of Chávez is no secret, and the Venezuelan leader's recent move to provide American poor in New York and Boston with cheap oil comes as a slap in the face for both Bush and the international industry. The Iraq war was meant to not only give the U.S. access to Iraqi oil, but also to insert direct U.S. involvement in the dealings of OPEC.

Now Venezuela, a leading OPEC member, is mounting a counterattack in U.S. markets. More than that, Chávez is widening the scope of his influence, making a pipeline deal with Argentina, proffering oil to Cuba, discussing ventures in Nicaragua (where Daniel Ortega is looking to regain power), and discussing joint deals with the Chinese. Some are beginning to think of him as a new Bolívar, the hero who liberated much of Latin America from Spain.

Congress has already beaten back one attempt by the Chinese to buy Unocal and enter the U.S. market. The U.S. is warily watching Chinese moves to gain control over Canada's oil sands, a future source of oil. China, now the second-largest oil consumer in the world (the U.S. is first), is expanding its fuel purchases as its economy grows. It is not inconceivable that China will end up threatening U.S. oil hegemony in Latin America. China is becoming a significant factor in American politics; it already owns substantial chunks of the ballooning U.S. debt.

And while we have been fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Chinese have been grabbing more Caspian Sea oil and laying plans for a gas pipeline to run from Turkmenistan, which has the biggest pool of natural gas anywhere in the world, to Shanghai.

With all this going on, Bush must be tempted to end his second term in a blaze of glory by defending the Monroe Doctrine and taking out Chávez in the name of national security—especially because he could tell Americans who are angry at higher and higher fuel prices that getting rid of Chávez is in the national interest.

Venezuela agrees to buy Spanish warships

Sun, 11 Dec 2005 00:15:47 -0600

Over U.S. objections, Venezuela purchased eight frigates and 12 military aircraft worth about $2 billion.BY PETER WILSONBloomberg News

CARACAS - Venezuela, the world's fifth-largest oil exporter, signed agreements for the purchase of $2 billion worth of Spanish military transport aircraft and frigates over U.S. objections.

Venezuela purchased eight frigates and 12 military aircraft, Defense Minister Orlando Maniglia said during televised signing ceremonies. Maniglia didn't give a value of the sale. The Financial Times said Nov. 25 that the sale is worth about $2 billion.

Venezuela's military purchases have been questioned by the United States, which has said the buildup poses a threat to stability in the Western Hemisphere. Since March, Venezuela has purchased $240 million in Russian arms, including helicopters and rifles.

''This will be a point of contention between Madrid and Washington,'' said Patrick Esteruelas, an analyst with New York-based research and consulting firm Eurasia Group. The agreement ``will also help Spanish firms, like Repsol YPF, receive preferential access to Venezuela's oil reserves.''

Spain will sell Venezuela four frigates for coastal defense, as well as four ocean-going frigates, Spain Defense Minister Jose Bono said. The country's state-owned Navantia shipyard will construct the frigates, Bono said.

The contracts for the 12 aircraft, which include 10 transport planes and two maritime surveillance craft, was signed with Spain's Construcciones Aeronáuticas.
Bono defended Spain's decision to sell weapons to Venezuela. Previous Venezuelan purchases of Russian military helicopters and rifles drew criticism from U.S. Defense Minister Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice.

''These are not arms to be used for attacks,'' Bono said. ``These are for self-defense.''
Venezuela President Hugo Chávez, elected in 1998 and reelected in 2000, has sought to build up his country's armed forces, which previously relied mostly on U.S. weaponry.

''This sale is in line with Venezuela's efforts to modernize many of branches in its armed forces,'' Esteruelas said. ``Many of these purchases are designed to move away from equipment that was almost uniquely sourced to the U.S.''

Chávez, 51, has repeatedly accused the United States of seeking his assassination or overthrow. The former paratrooper said during the signing ceremonies that the South American country had the right to purchase weapons for its own self-defense without accounting to anyone.
''We used to be a colony of the North American empire,'' Chávez said. ``Now we're free.''

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