[NYTr] Venezuela Helps Bail Out Argentina on Debt, Energy
 
Date: Wed, 8 Aug 2007 20:28:12 -0500 (CDT)


Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
[... and what do Argentina's Jews do? They bitch about Hugo Chavez
and Iran.  Right on cue, on instructions from Israel and the USA.  They
seem to have given up trying to paint the Bolivarian Revolution as
anti-Semitic, at least for the moment, when there re bigger fish to
fry. Like bad-mouthing Iran. The New York Times, of course, is happy to
play along, even making the Iran-Venezuela bogeyman their headline,
when it's a minor part of the story. -NY Transfer]

The New York Times - Aug 7, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/07/world/americas/07argentina.html

Jews in Argentina Wary of Nationbs Ties to ChC!vez

By ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO

BUENOS AIRES, Aug. 6 b President Hugo ChC!vez of Venezuela said Monday
that his country would help the government of President NC)stor Kirchner
refinance more of Argentinabs debt and increase its energy supplies.

The agreements help solidify the relationship between the countries;
Venezuela has played an important role in helping Mr. Kirchner revive
Argentinabs still-recovering economy.

But they are also causing potential political problems. In recent days,
Jewish leaders here b part of Latin Americabs largest Jewish community
b have been expressing growing concern about Mr. ChC!vezbs close ties to
Iran.

On Monday, Mr. ChC!vez and Mr. Kirchner agreed that Venezuela would
purchase $1 billion of Argentine bonds to help refinance Argentinabs
debt, according to an Argentine government Web site. A purchase would
bring to nearly $5 billion the total debt that Venezuela has helped
Argentina refinance in the past four years.

The two countries also agreed to build a plant in Argentina that will
turn liquid natural gas from Venezuela into usable gas. The plant will
allow Venezuela to send liquid gas to Argentina by ship, a shift in
strategy for Mr. ChC!vez as discussions for a natural gas pipeline from
Venezuela via Brazil have bogged down.

The gas conversion plant would be a joint project between Venezuelabs
state oil company, PetrC3leos de Venezuela, and the Argentine state oil
company, Enarsa.

Mr. ChC!vez has worked scrupulously to forge closer ties with Argentina,
which is still recovering from a near economic collapse in 2002. The
failure of international lending agencies to bail Argentina out led Mr.
Kirchner, who was elected in 2003, to seek closer ties elsewhere. Mr.
ChC!vez, flush with oil profits, stepped in and helped refinance some of
Argentinabs debt at more favorable terms.

Mr. ChC!vez now has the ability to extend his influence in Argentina on
the energy front. Argentina is suffering one of its worst energy crises
in decades because of a lack of investment in drilling for new oil and
natural gas deposits and an unusually cold winter.

Before Mr. ChC!vezbs visit on Monday, Jewish leaders here and abroad had
expressed worries that his largess would give him a freer hand to
influence Argentine politics. Mr. ChC!vez has developed a close
relationship with the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has
called for the destruction of Israel and whose country is suspected of
being behind the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center here that
killed 85 people and wounded more than 200.

bThe question is, will the economic agreements also generate some type
of political commitment?b said Sergio D. Widder, the Latin American
representative of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights
organization.

The issue could prove to be a thorny one for Cristina FernC!ndez de
Kirchner, the presidentbs wife and the leading candidate to succeed him
in October elections.

Mrs. Kirchner is walking a delicate line between supporting Mr. ChC!vez
and offering support to the Jewish community, which she has done
consistently since her days as an opposition senator. Both Kirchners
have supported recent efforts to solve the bombing case, even as
investigators have increasingly focused on Iranbs possible involvement.

After years of failed investigations, Mr. Kirchner appointed a special
prosecutor, Alberto Nisman, who doggedly pursued the case. Last
October, he issued a report on the bombing, concluding that the plot
was hatched in Tehran. Mr. Nisman cited seven top-level former Iranian
government officials, including a former president, and a Hezbollah
operative. An Argentine judge approved the report and submitted it to
Interpol, which issued arrest warrants for the eight.

Mr. Kirchner reportedly refused to attend the inauguration of President
Rafael Correa of Ecuador in January because the Iranian president, Mr.
Ahmadinejad, was present. The Kirchners have even met with Jews in
Venezuela who unsuccessfully called on the Argentine leader to try to
broker a meeting with Mr. ChC!vez.

In addition to being concerned that Mr. ChC!vez could try to leverage
his economic relationship with Argentina to influence politics here and
the investigation into the 1994 bombing, Jewish leaders are also
worried that Mr. ChC!vezbs anti-American statements could affect
attitudes in Argentina.

bJews are worried that ChC!vezbs anti-Americanism could turn into
anti-Semitism,b said Meir Javedanfar, a Tel Aviv-based political
analyst.

Mrs. Kirchner has given no indication that Argentinabs support for Mr.
ChC!vez would change if she is elected president on Oct. 28, as polls
suggest she will be.

Two weeks ago on a campaign trip to Spain, she compared Mr. ChC!vez to
President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. bThe Latin American energy
equation wonbt be solved without the presence of Venezuela and
Bolivia,b she said. bLatin America needs ChC!vez like Europe needs
Putin.b

Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company

 
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