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Cuba owes $891
million to Venezuela
Data show that the island
nation made no payment in 2003. Five oil
shipments had not been registered on Pdvsa's
books by December.
Marianna Parraga , El
Universal, Caracas, Venzuela, January
14, 2004.
The 2000 Cuba-Venezuela Integral Cooperation
Agreement, which establishes preferential
conditions for the sale of oil to the island
nation, continues to feed the debate. Oil
experts have said that the raison behind
the controversy is Cuba's bad reputation
as a client.
Many of the finance employees that the
state-owned oil firm Petróleos de
Venezuela (PDVSA) fired during the December
2002-January 2003 general strike have insisted
that Cuba has been delaying payments since
day one of the agreement. This almost caused
the suspension of supplies in 2002, shortly
before Pdvsa accepted to restructure the
debt under the condition that Cuba will
make all payments on time.
By December 2002, Cuba was paying 20 to
30 billion dollars monthly and had reduced
its debt with Venezuela by 140 to 160 billion
dollars, as shown by documents of the Venezuelan
oil company. But the strike in Venezuela
resulted in the removal of most Pdvsa managers
who had engineered the restructuring.
Nearly one year after the end of the strike,
Cuba's debt reaches 891 million dollars.
Information obtained by El Universal shows
that the debt includes a 240-million-dollar
long-term fraction - due in December last
year - that must be paid with promissory
notes from the National Bank of Cuba, and
a 651-million-dollar short-term fraction,
of which 475 million are due and 35 million
are delay interest.
An evaluation of the long-lasting Cuban
debt reveals the island nation made almost
no payment to Pdvsa in 2003, nor did it
redeem long-term debits due last month.
Cuba has delayed the payment of $62 million
for more than 300 days, $121 million for
more than 200 days, and $122 million for
more that 100 days.
Moreover, Venezuela has received no more
than 20 of the 92 promissory notes should
have filed for shipments made January 2003
and March 2004.
This causes an accounting disorder that
might explain the financial imbalances Pdvsa
is exhibiting lately. For instance, of the
651-million-dollar short-term debt, $48.6
million resulted from the five last shipments
already delivered that, by December, were
still to be registered on Pdvsa's books.
Industry sources say that this accounting
disorder has reduced the firm's cash flow,
caused an abnormal use of the Fund of Investment
for Macro-Economic Stabilization (FIEM)
and deteriorated Pdvsa's position in the
international financial markets.
However, Energy Minister Rafael Ramírez
has said that the Cuba-Venezuela agreement
"has been stabilized" after the
imbalance caused by the strike.
Ramirez added that the long-term debt is
being dealt with by the Ministry of Finance.
"There is no problem with Pdvsa regarding
Cuba's debt or payment delays," he
said.
Translated by Edgardo Malaver
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