Guardia Bolivariano
19th September 2003, 04:32
CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuela will not recognize a delegation from Iraq's U.S.-backed Governing Council at a meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries next week, a government official said on Thursday.
The oil cartel invited Iraq, a founding member of OPEC along with Venezuela, to its Sept. 24 meeting in Vienna earlier this week. It will be the first time Baghdad has attended an OPEC meeting since the occupation by U.S. forces.
The official, who declined to be named, cited Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez saying in a private luncheon on Wednesday that the world's No. 5 oil exporter would not recognize representatives from a "foreign" occupier in Iraq.
Venezuela's oil minister Rafael Ramirez and other OPEC leaders had insisted they would only welcome delegates from a government recognized by the United Nations.
It was not clear if this would affect the proceedings of the OPEC meeting.
Most OPEC members softened their stance after Arab League foreign ministers let the Governing Council take Iraq's vacant seat at talks last week in Cairo. Seven OPEC members are in the Arab League.
Chavez has been a highly vocal critic of the U.S.-led invasion and occupation of Iraq. Relations between Caracas and the United States, the top buyer of the oil-reliant nation's crude, have been strained on several occasions since the left-wing populist took office in 1999.
Chavez, a former paratrooper who won elections six years after leading a botched coup, became in 2000 the first head of state to visit former President Saddam Hussein in Baghdad since the 1991 Gulf war during a tour of OPEC nations.
He has also bolstered ties with anti-U.S. states such as Cuba and Libya. (Additional reporting by Pascal Fletcher)
*Note that our energy minister Ali Rodriguez Araque was an actual guerrilla in the times of the cuban revolution. I'm sure his opinion helped alot in this decision.
The oil cartel invited Iraq, a founding member of OPEC along with Venezuela, to its Sept. 24 meeting in Vienna earlier this week. It will be the first time Baghdad has attended an OPEC meeting since the occupation by U.S. forces.
The official, who declined to be named, cited Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez saying in a private luncheon on Wednesday that the world's No. 5 oil exporter would not recognize representatives from a "foreign" occupier in Iraq.
Venezuela's oil minister Rafael Ramirez and other OPEC leaders had insisted they would only welcome delegates from a government recognized by the United Nations.
It was not clear if this would affect the proceedings of the OPEC meeting.
Most OPEC members softened their stance after Arab League foreign ministers let the Governing Council take Iraq's vacant seat at talks last week in Cairo. Seven OPEC members are in the Arab League.
Chavez has been a highly vocal critic of the U.S.-led invasion and occupation of Iraq. Relations between Caracas and the United States, the top buyer of the oil-reliant nation's crude, have been strained on several occasions since the left-wing populist took office in 1999.
Chavez, a former paratrooper who won elections six years after leading a botched coup, became in 2000 the first head of state to visit former President Saddam Hussein in Baghdad since the 1991 Gulf war during a tour of OPEC nations.
He has also bolstered ties with anti-U.S. states such as Cuba and Libya. (Additional reporting by Pascal Fletcher)
*Note that our energy minister Ali Rodriguez Araque was an actual guerrilla in the times of the cuban revolution. I'm sure his opinion helped alot in this decision.