As President Fernandez returned to the Dominican Republic, a struggle has emerged between Danilo Medina, one of the government ministers closest to the President, and Aristides Fernandez Zucco, the head of the Dominican Refinery (REFIDOMSA) over just how much oil to purchase from Venezuela. Medina is questioning the fact that, despite the “Petrocaribe” agreement signed with Venezuela, the refinery is still not purchasing the 50,000 barrels a day covered under the terms of the agreement. According to Medina, “the President is going to have to make tough decisions in order to buy the entire quota and more.” At the same time, Fernandez Zucco told Diario Libre reporters that Venezuela cannot satisfy the amount of fuels that the country needs to purchase. Currently, the Dominican Republic is buying 35,000 barrels a day under the Petrocaribe Agreement. However, there seems to be another fly in the ointment. After weeks of publicity decrying the fact that the nation is using 165,000 barrels of oil a day, it now turns out, as revealed in Diario Libre, that the real, average consumption is just a tiny bit over 100,000 barrels a day. (100,380) These numbers were compiled by journalists from Diario Libre who used data from the Hydrocarbon Department of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce to prove their point.