LATIN AMERICAN REACTIONS TO PROPOSALS FOR INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ON ENERGY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP85T00875R001900020026-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 29, 2005
• Sequence Number: 26
• Publication Date: March 21, 1974
• Content Type: MF

25X1
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Latin ?American governments to prop
international cooperation on energy
matters.
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MEMORANDUM FOR: William Morell
Dept. of the Treasury
. attached is a
uest
re
~
,
q
per your
discussion of the general reaction of
- r
osed
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t u 1tiu 111AL
21 t. arch 1974
t'Z fOR2\NDUit rOR : ?;aurice rrr. st
Director of rcoromic Research
SUBJECT s Latin F.morican Rnacti.ons to Proposals
for International Cooperation on
Energy
There has been little official Latin American reaction
to the specific proposals er.,anatincr from the Washington
conference on energy. Attached is a discussion of the
general reaction of Latin American governments to proposed
international cooperation on energy matters.
Distribution: (S-6024)
Orig. & 1 - Addressee
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9
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Latin American Reactions to Proposals for
International Cooperation on Energy
Because Latin America includes both exporters and
importers of petroleum, there is no regional consensus on
energy matters and the subject is potentially divisive.
Partly for this reason, however, Latin America has not given
the subject much prominence in international forums.
Venezuela, the region's major oil exporter, has attempted
to exert leadership in Latin America on energy questions and,
has been defensive about current high oil prices. Importing
countries tend to avoid extensive discussion of the subject
for fear of offending a source of supply. Moreover, Venezuela
has promised to aid its neighbors in coping with the problems
caused by high oil prices. Many oil importers also are
benefiting from high prices for their primary exports, which,
in the short run at least, will mitigate somewhat the impact
of their rising oil import kills. In addition, Latin American
nations have been reluctant to exhibit signs of disunity on
energy matters because of a growing tendency to identify
their interests with those of other Third World countries.
They also believe that a display of unity is useful in
dealing with the United States on a broad range of inter-
national economic issues.
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Despite efforts to maintain the semblance of. unity,
different attitudes, based on different resource endowments
remain and can be expected to surface as problems become
more acute. The nations hardest hit by higher oil prices
are Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Central American
and Caribbean countries. Several of these countries are
trying to obtain additional supplies from the oil exporters.
.In..addition to Venezuela, the net exporters of petroleum
include Ecuador, Trinidad, Bolivia, and Colombia. (Because
of declining production, Colombia may soon become a-net
importer.) In between are Mexico and Argentina, which meet
most of their own requirements. The attitudes of Peru, a
net importer, are influenced by the expectation of becoming
a net exporter within a few years.
In Venezuela the previous administration and the newly
installed government have consistently defended high oil
prices. The Venezuelan government has opposed discussion
of energy questions in hemisphere organizations in which
the United States is represented and seeks to limit such
discussion to the newly formed Latin American Energy
Organization (OLADE), formed largely as a result of
Venezuelan efforts. Moreover, Venezuela has attempted to
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Hsi l L.ri W.
commodities, in any international discussions. In his
inaugural address, President Perez proposed an international
conference to promote fair prices for countries producing
raw materials. This proposal also echoed the position
of the previous administration that any meeting between
oil producer and consumer countries should also include
discussion of rising prices of industrial products.
Latin American unity and the identification of Latin
America with the Third World were emphasized at Secretary
Kissinger's meeting with the Latin American foreign ministers
in Mexico last month. In one of the few references to
energy at the meeting, Mexican President Echeverria called
the energy crisis a symptom of the "deep maladjustment in
international economics" and a problem that ca4not be
controlled in isolation from other problems. Similar themes
emerged at the meeting of the Inter-American Economic and
Social Council in Quito last week. At the insistence of
Venezuela, a staff paper on repercussions of the petroleum
crisis on Latin America was withdrawn and destroyed. The
paper had been drawn up following an OAS seminar in Washington.
Continued Latin American support of the Venezuelan position
in reactions to energy proposals will depend to a large degree
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aid to its neighbors and on the continued Latin perception
of advantage in unity among producers of raw materials.
CST:./OER
^, ?,I - -.? i 1 974
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