Chavez: montando um pre-exilio na Argentina?

A pergunta pode parecer absurda, mas me veio a mente ao ler sobre todos esses negócios escusos entre os K e Mister Chávez. Quem sabe?

Argentina: New roads for Chávez
Carolina Barros
Buenos Aires Herald (Argentina), June 14, 2010

All roads ultimately lead to the Venezuela of Chávez. But the uproar over the 15 percent commissions, the dollar-laden suitcases and an elastic Argentine-Venezuelan trust holding (which from the original 231 million dollars agreed in 2004 has mushroomed to over two billion with the welter of deals and agreements, leading Government House to now deny its existence) has obliged the latest projects between Caracas and Buenos Aires to seek new short cuts by other financial routes.

Like the Bolivarian plan for the commercial control of the Hidrovía (the waterway connection via the Paraná and Paraguay Rivers between the River Plate estuary, the Argentine Northwest, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia and southern Brazil). How? By creating a huge Argentine-Venezuelan fleet which was originally christened Fluvialba, a combination of the Argentine-Paraguayan Fluviomar and the Venezuelan Albanave, one of the countless divisions or sub-holdings of the Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA. Its funding was initially designed to fall under the vast umbrella of the bilateral trust holding established in 2004 but the uproar over irregularities has prompted the contractual parties to go looking for less shady means since last December.

The original plans for a Bolivarian fleet date from early 2009 but only took on life last December after Hugo Chávez visited the Tandanor shipyards and signed with his local colleague Cristina Fernández de Kirchner a letter of intent for the construction of 50 barges, 10 tugs and six unloading vessels with Tandanor (which depends on the Defence Ministry) acting as the “co-ordinator” of the construction contracts with various shipyards. These vessels serve only one purpose: to monopolize the upstream transport of fossil fuels (Venezuelan, obviously), returning with a freight which could include iron ore and lithium, as well as grain.

Tender. During the last trip of President Kirchner to Caracas on April 20, the two governments signed 25 agreements. Of these, the 14th and the 25th refer to “receipt of the tender to build barges and freighters for river transport between Tandanor and Fluvialba” and the “creation of a mixed capital company between PDVSA Argentina and Fluviomar with the legal denomination of Fluvialba,” respectively.

At the end of April, the Herald was assured by both Tandanor and Caracas sources that the “meeting point” (Chávez jargon for having the strongman’s signature and the corresponding funding already arranged) already existed but the contract (with an estimated value of 100 million dollars) could only be signed at the end of May because a legal framework similar to the 2004 trust holding was being sought.

Nobody talks about that today, as Tandanor director Omar Riveiro confirmed when consulted by the Herald: “We rule out a trust holding and we’re ready to sign but the problem is that we have no shipper or consignee since Fluvialba has yet to be established.”

He might well say so since in shipping circles they say that Fluviomar is virtually broke but was chosen by Chávez because of its CEO Andrés Guzmán’s excellent relationship with both Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo and Chávez himself.

Banco Nación. As for financing the Bolivarian fleet (yet to be designated), this will probably proceed via letters of credit from Banco Nación “always provided that it is legally domiciled in Caracas or Buenos Aires,” according to Tandanor, not without pointing out that first they ruled out tax havens such as the Virgin Islands, Panama and even Uruguay in order to set up the firm.

In the market they assure that the Bolivarian fleet will sail under three flags (Argentina, Paraguay and Venezuela) and that it will flood Mercosur with Venezuelan fuel. They also say that Petropar, the Paraguayan oil company, is trapped by its debts to PDVSA (over 500 million dollars)and that the Argentine-Paraguayan-Venezuelan venture seeks to displace Horamar, the navigation company of the López brothers, which currently dominates fuel oil transport in the Hidrovía.

There is also some hard data: between December and now, the fleet plans have been scaled down to the construction of only 50 barges, to be delivered in three stages over five years. The 30 smaller vessels (2,500 tons, for grain and minerals) will be outsourced among Argentine shipyards (Torresint of Puerto Deseado and Astilleros Corrientes). As for the 20 larger vessels (6,500 tons and double-decker for fuel transport), Tandanor itself could take charge.

“That is, if everything goes according to plan and in 10 days we sign the contract,” says Riveiro.