30171: (news) Chamberlain: Haiti-Venezuela (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, March 9 (AP) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who
has offered assistance and oil benefits to much of the Caribbean, will meet
with Haitian President Rene Preval to discuss providing aid to the
impoverished country, Preval's office said Friday.
   Chavez is scheduled to arrive in the capital of Port-au-Prince for a
one-day meeting Monday, Haiti's National Palace said in a statement.
   Venezuela's state-run development bank said this week it will create a
$20 million fund to provide humanitarian aid to Haiti and develop joint
cooperation projects. The money will pay for health care, education,
housing and other basic necessities sorely lacking in the Caribbean nation
of 8 million.
   Haiti also benefits from Chavez's Petrocaribe initiative, which provides
petroleum products and other aid to needy Caribbean countries to help them
counter rising energy prices. Recipients are offered deferred payment and
long-term financing for fuel shipments.
   Petrocaribe is widely seen as an effort by Chavez -- long at odds with
Washington -- to make inroads in a region where the United States is a
major trading partner.
   Chavez has said Venezuela will help its Caribbean neighbors fight
widespread poverty and other social problems. Last month, Chavez visited
the tiny Caribbean nations of Dominica and St. Vincent, where he toured the
fuel facilities and public works projects his government has built.