Latin America's Oil Rebels Rebuff Eu

The presidents of Venezuela and Bolivia, Latin America's most outspoken leaders, yesterday rebuffed demands by the European Union and other leaders at a summit in Vienna to temper their policies on foreign investment and energy, declaring that a new political era had arrived.

Tony Blair, who attended the summit of European Union, Latin American and Caribbean countries, called for a "responsible approach" to the debate.

"Neo-liberalism has begun its decline and has come to an end," the Venezuelan president, Hugo Chávez, said at the gathering of nearly 60 heads of state, according to Reuters. "Now a new era has begun in Latin America. Some call it populism, trying to disfigure our beauty. But it is the ... voice of the people that is being heard."

Interest in the summit, which continues today, has been heightened by the recent decree by the new Bolivian president, Evo Morales, who announced on May 1 plans to nationalise his country's natural gas fields. Mr Morales is part of the new "pink tide" of leftist politicians who have recently been elected in Latin America.

"What countries do in their energy policy when they are energy producers like Bolivia and Venezuela matters enormously to all of us," Mr Blair said yesterday's. "My only plea is that people exercise the power they have got in this regard responsibly for the whole of the international community ... people are worried about energy supply in the future."

The summit, which was called to discuss a series of issues of mutual concern, has so far been dominated by energy. Addressing the issue, and concern from the Spanish and Brazilian governments about their energy interests in Bolivia, the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, said investors needed guarantees of long-term stability. "Without that assurance you may be disrupting all economic activities," he said.

Brazil's foreign minister called on Bolivia to compensate Brazilian state oil company Petroleo Brasileiro, or Petrobras, if Bolivia takes control of the company assets there, according to the Associated Press.

"If investments [assets] are passed to a different owner, they need to be compensated," Celso Amorim told reporters at the summit. Mr Morales met various leaders separately, including Spanish prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, over his new policy.

In a letter of clarification sent to the Spanish foreign minister, Miguel Angel Moratinos, and handed to reporters, Mr Morales said: "We hope that in the term of 180 days we can establish to decide new contracts of mutual interest ... with all the necessary conditions, so true and lasting legal security exists for companies."