Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez concluded a successful and very busy visit to the Dominican Republic. From the DR he flew to Cuba on Sunday afternoon where he would meet with President Fidel Castro. During his three-day visit, Chavez promoted on several occasions his intention to become the leader of Caribbean and Greater Colombia integration. For the purpose he is using the bait of petroleum supply with better prices and trade conditions. On his final day, he participated in a presentation with President Hipolito Mejia that was transmitted by Radio Television Dominicana in the DR and Venezuela. On the program, President Chavez said that the visit marked the start of a new era of Dominican-Venezuelan relations. He said that Venezuela could not continue with its back to the Caribbean and announced it would assist the region. Chavez alerted that the Caribbean, Central America and South America need to strengthen regional integration mechanisms before entering into a free trade zone with North America. During his visit, he spoke of the possibility of installing a pipeline linking Venezuela, Trinidad & Tobago, with the eastern Caribbean islands, Mexico, Cuba and the Dominican Republic. He also spoke that a Venezuelan mission had come to carry out a feasibility study regarding the installation of two petroleum refineries, one in Monte Cristi, on the northwestern coast of the DR. This would be a US$2,000 million project and would have capacity to refine 200,000 barrels of petroleum a day for 15 years, reported the Listin Diario. Chavez also expressed his support to the DR hosting the Pan American Games in 2003 and committed to expedite the disbursement of US$26.5 million soft loan for the construction and repair of sports venues necessary for the Games. In a joint statement, both Presidents also agreed to promote cooperation between both countries to fight corruption and drug trafficking. The Venezuelan government announced the opening of a regional trade office in Santo Domingo. Chavez was the losing pitcher, in the softball game that matched the Venezuelan President against Dominican President Hipolito Mejia. Both Presidents played one inning. The Dominican military won the game, defeating the Venezuelan military 13 to 3 runs.
