Uruguay's José Mujica meets with Hugo Chávez

[Judi Lynn]

CARACAS, Thursday January 27, 2011
Uruguay's José Mujica meets with Hugo Chávez

Uruguayan President José Mujica arrived on Thursday morning in the Palace of Miraflores, the official seat of the executive branch of government in Venezuela.

Mujica arrived in Venezuela on Wednesday and will stay for 36 hours in the South American country. The Uruguayan president is expected to sign several cooperation agreements with his Venezuelan counterpart.

Chávez and Mujica will sign energy and food cooperation agreements. The Uruguayan head of state highlighted the importance of Venezuela's accession to the Common Market of the South (Mercosur), which includes Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil.

Under the new energy agreement, Uruguay's state oil company (Administración Nacional de Combustibles, Alcohol y Portland, Ancap), state-run oil company Petróleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa) and Argentina's Enarsa are to establish a joint venture to operate an oil field located in the Orinoco Oil Belt, according to the website of multistate TV network Telesur.

http://english.eluniversal.com/2011/01/27/en_pol_esp_uruguays-jose-mujic_27A5057931.shtml
Opposition newspaper

[rabs]

1. A name in Mujica's delegation jumped out

Enjoying a "tinto" (black coffee) on Wednesday.

Was astounded to see that in Mujica's delegation is Raúl Fernando Sendic, president of state emterprise ANCAP (National administration of fuels, alcohol and Portland cement),

He is the son of Raúl Sendic, the founder of the Tupamaros back in the early 1970s. The senior Raúl Sendic died in Paris in 1989. The father was imprisoned for about 12 years in inhumane conditions (he was put in a deep hole in the ground) during the military dictatorship.

So the Uruguayan government is led by Mujica, a former Tupa, his wife and senator Lucia Toplansky was a Tupa, and now the son of the Tupa founder is a Cabinet minister. There are probably others in Mujica's government. Must make Uruguayan rightwingers gnash their teeth.

Wiki on Sendic senior

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ra%C3%BAl_Sendic

[social_critic]

3. So he took a trip to Caracas

This tells us the way it works with these guys. They got political appointees everywhere. And none of them know what to do - other than fly abroad, have nice dinners, and enjoy the duty free whisky they bring back home. Do you know what they're called here in Venezuela? Boligarchs. What will they be called in Uruguay?

[Judi Lynn]

4. Thanks for the illumination. Definitely have heard of Raúl Sendic.

Exceptionally interesting to learn his son is a Cabinet minister for Mujica.

http://nuevatribuna.blogia.com.nyud.net:8090/upload/20061101061751-raul-sendic.jpg http://www.larepublica.com.uy.nyud.net:8090/publicaciones/101/20081201/images/343336_0.gif

Father, and son.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com.nyud.net:8090/_iharoUHGx80/S9oVyPvFFGI/AAAAAAAAEaI/5qfIM_W_PwM/s1600/dscn5211_byn_jpgwjpk4q.jpg

[social_critic]

2. but where will they get the money and technology?

So they intend to form a joint venture to develop and operate an oil field in the Orinoco Oil Belt. Such a project requires an investment of say $300 million USD minimum, and I'm low-balling it - they usually require $5 billion to $10 billion to get started.

Neither Enarsa nor Ancap have the technical resources to do this project. Neither does PDVSA, which is way stretched because it has lost so many experienced professionals. PDVSA also continues to lose them due to the low pay and the country's environment (high crime and a government which has expressed its hate for the middle class). To complicate matters, neither of the two foreign partners has the money to invest, and PDVSA is already known to be nearly broke, its cash flow has to go to satisfy government demands - Chavez is going to have to throw a lot of cash out to buy his clients for the 2012 elections.

So what can we say about this Joint Venture? It's vaporware. It won't come to nothing. Which is the reason why Venezuela's oil production continues to drop.