Venezuela isn't being as generous as it used to be. Last month I wrote about how Venezuela was cutting back on its economic assistance towards Nicaragua. The recent news is that Guatemala is withdrawing from the Petrocaribe oil alliance. Petrocaribe was established by the late President Hugo Chavez in 2005 to improve support for Venezuela by allowing other states to purchase oil from them at low rates and with flexible payment schedules. Actually, they were nearly giving it all away.
Guatemala is withdrawing from the agreement because it could not come to an agreement with Venezuelan authorities to bring the interest rate on purchases below 2 percent. A Guatemalan spokesperson stated "We did not get the benefits that the country hoped for."
Venezuela's foreign minister, on the other hand, stated that "we are advancing toward a new phase with Petrocaribe from an energy alliance to a productive energy alliance." That sure sounds like we are altering the terms of our agreements so that we actually make some money on the deal and that's not such a bad thing.
In other signs that Petrocaribe is suffering, or at least entering a new phase, relates to Honduras. They joined Petrocaribe in May but they've been waiting for a fuel shipment since August. The delay has apparently been caused by "technical problems" in Venezuela's refineries.
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