Cuba-Venezuela agreements

From Reuters, a report on economic agreements signed by Cuba and Venezuela; oil exploration on land and offshore, telecommunications, nickel, fisheries, construction, tourism are included. Granma’s summary in English is here.

A plant to upgrade heavy crude oil would increase the value of the Cuban crude from the north coast east of Havana, and a “regasification” plant would enable Cuba to use liquid natural gas from Venezuela.

There’s also a plan to create a joint venture for the “construction and subsequent exploitation” of a hotel on Cayo Paredon Grande, which would be a departure from the recent practice of building hotel with Cuban capital and operating them under Cuban ownership with management contracts with foreign hotel companies.

Cuban media headlined these agreements as a sign of “integration.” In Mexico’s La Jornada, Gerardo Arreola points out that Cuban officials did not react to Hugo Chavez’ concept of “a confederation of republics.” Chavez was on Cuban television for nearly eight hours over the course of two days, Arreola reports. In his analysis the coverage of Chavez’ visit carried the message that the Cuba-Venezuela relationship is “anchored to political institutions,” is tied to “the next generation of Cuban leaders,” and “does not depend on the close relationship between Chavez and Fidel.”