On September 6, Venezuela and 13 Caribbean nations signed the Petrocaribe cooperation agreement in Montego Bay, which aims to ease the burden faced by small Caribbean countries in the face of sky-rocketing oil prices through the supply of oil by Caracas on concessional terms. The agreement states that benefits should be allocated to fund social and economic development programs and to improve the quality of life for the poor. Signing the agreement, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called for the development of “a strong union” among the countries, as perceived by Latin American liberator Simon Bolivar, as the basis of real “political freedom and the breaking of the chains of poverty and slavery”.

From Green Left Weekly, September 14, 2005.
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