Just hours before being inaugurated as Venezuela’s new President, Hugo Rafael Ch?vez Fr?as, met privately with Dominican President Leonel Fern?ndez and Cuban President Fidel Castro at the Caracas hotel where the latter is staying. Although details of the discussion have not been released, it focused on Ch?vez’s foreign policy plans during his presidency. President Fern?ndez did announce last night, however, that a Dominican technical mission will be going to Caracas within the next few weeks to negotiate an "amplification" of the San Jos? Agreement under which Mexico and Venezuela provide special financing for purchases of their petroleum by Caribbean and Central American nations. No details about what "amplification" means was forthcoming last night. President Fern?ndez is in Caracas, along with 15 other Latin American heads of state, to attend the inauguration.
