The San Jose Accords, signed in 1980 to facilitate the supply of petroleum and petroleum derivatives to the oil-poor nations of the Caribbean Basin (Barbados, Belice, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Haiti, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama and Dominican Republic) is not being used to its best effects, according to a report in today’s Diario Libre. The agreement gives each signatory nation a guaranteed supply of up to 160,000 barrels a day of oil and derivatives, 80,000 from Mexico and 80,000 from Venezuela. Special financing is provided for up to 20% of the petroleum invoice’s total. The newspaper indicates that the DR is receiving few benefits from the agreement, if any. In September of 2003, a commission composed of Mexican and DR involvement renewed interest in maintaining the agreement, but the authorities have yet to present anything to the Mexican government. With Venezuela there have been a series of issues affecting availability, beginning with the strike at the Venezuelan PDVSA facilities, which disrupted supplies, and continuing on to diplomatically-charged affair relating to a supposed coup d’etat being cooked up on Dominican soil with the blind eye of DR government officials allegedly giving its silent blessing. The flow of oil from Venezuela to the national refinery continues to stagnate. At a time when petroleum shipments were halted, the Economic and Social Development Bank of Venezuela (Bandes) was reviewing projects for US$30 million. Until August of 2003, the DR received 53,000 barrels of petroleum and derivatives a day. Most of the fuel and derivatives are now coming from Columbia and Mexico. The chief of the department of hydrocarbons, Federico Quezada, told Diario Libre that some propane and a small amount of gasoline was coming from Venezuela and that the refinery and the PDVSA were reviewing their yearly contracts. Quezada also said that Bandes funding was being used to obtain asphalt more than anything else. The DR had to pay US$1.1 billion for oil imports last year – US$174 million more than in 2002. Petroleum and petroleum derivatives represent 18.1% of all imports to the country, according to the Central Bank.