Venezuela, Cuba Sign Accords to Increase Oil Refining, Mining

Venezuela and Cuba to increase oil refining capacity and petrochemical output in Cuba, according to a statement today from Venezuela's information ministry.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez signed 14 economic cooperation agreements yesterday with Cuba's acting leader Raul Castro, deepening Venezuela's ties with the communist country.
The accords will increase oil refining capacity and petrochemical output in Cuba, according to a statement today from Venezuela's information ministry. Chavez and Castro also agreed to jointly develop mining deposits containing gold, zinc, copper, lime and chromium.
Chavez, a self-proclaimed socialist revolutionary who often refers to Cuba's convalescing President Fidel Castro as a father figure, has increased trade and investment in Cuba over the past eight years, providing economic relief to the island nation after it lost economic support from the former Soviet Union in 1991.
Trade between the two countries has risen to $7 billion a year, up from $388 million when Chavez was elected in 1998, Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage Davila said, according to the Venezuelan state news wire Agencia Bolivariana de Noticias.
Chavez and Raul Castro, Fidel's brother who took over governing duties last year when the president underwent surgery for intestinal bleeding, also signed agreements to increase food and industrial production in the two countries, according to the Venezuelan government statement.