Alexandre Rocha, special envoy*
Rio de Janeiro – Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez said today (18) that talks with Brazil regarding the so-called Gas Pipeline of the South are advancing. "The presidents of PDVSA and Petrobras (respectively the Venezuelan and Brazilian national oil companies) have advanced significantly in the matter of bringing gas from Venezuela down, first crossing through the northeastern state of Pernambuco," he said, on arrival at the Copacabana Palace hotel, in Rio de Janeiro, where the Mercosur Summit is taking place.
According to him, "Brazil does not need to worry as all the gas that the country needs, mainly in the North and Northeast, is in Venezuela." The Gas Pipeline of the South is an ambitious project to cover a distance of 8,000 kilometres that, if developed, will bring gas from Venezuela to Brazil and from Brazil to other South American countries.
When asked whether the "socialism of the 21st century" – the term he conned on being sworn in for his third term as president of Venezuela – may harm the Mercosur, Chavez said it could not. "It is the socialism of the 21st century, it is aimed at strengthening Venezuela and this will be favourable to South America, and if one party is strengthened, the rest is too," he finished off.
*Translated by Mark Ament
