Latin American leaders gathered to come up with a strategy to meet their energy needs.
Seeking relief from soaring energy prices and dependence on foreign oil, leaders of 10 Latin American nations agreed Saturday to push forward a sweeping energy plan that includes the construction of a liquefied natural gas plant, a hydroelectric dam and a pipeline stretching from Mexico to Panama.
But the most important details of the energy project were postponed, such as where to build a proposed $6.5 billion refinery that would provide up to 360,000 barrels of oil a day.
Guatemala and Panama were the leading contenders for the multinational refinery, billed as the largest project in Latin America since the Panama Canal.
"At this meeting there is not going to be a decision on choosing a location. That is a decision that will go after the investments are made," Mexican President Vincente Fox told reporters Saturday before a presentation with Dominican President Leonel Fernandez.
The refinery project is expected to be funded by private investors who have not been named. Those investors will choose the refinery's location under an agreement signed by the leaders Saturday, officials said.
Fox said the refinery, to which Mexico would provide about two-thirds of the supply, will help Central American countries struggling under the soaring cost of oil.
"For the first time, they will have competitive energy prices like we have in Mexico," Fox said.
OK. So what?
What's interesting in this article is what's missing -- Hugo Chavez. The great Venezuelan oil-rich savior of the poor and the downtrodden, from Caracas to Boston, isn't even mentioned. Perhaps the Washington Post was correct in its assessment that, except for Bolivia and Cuba, South America is gradually massing against him.
Now at last, Mr. Chavez is the object of a growing backlash from leaders around Latin America -- from Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Mexico and Nicaragua, among other countries. In part, the politicians are responding to foolish overreaching by Mr. Chavez, who has been busy trying to turn Bolivia into a satellite state while suggesting he has similar plans for much of the rest of the continent. Latin Americans don't like imperialism, whether it comes from Washington or Caracas. And even leftist leaders, like those who rule in Brazil and elsewhere in South America, find it hard to imagine themselves prospering in a Venezuela-led economic bloc that includes Cuba but shuns the United States.
I have to admit that I've been worried that the little tin-pot dictator was going to cause a lot of trouble down there. And I suspect that, before it's all over, he will cause some. Still, it's welcome news that not all of the continent is swooning before his oil dollars. Maybe it means that in the end he'll only ruin Venezuela.
It's sad, but it's better than what I feared.
