Salvadorian President Mauricio Funes confirmed on Thursday the likely visit of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, to take part in the opening of a fuel storage facility in El Salvador.
The fuel storage facility was built in Acajutla port, 52.8 miles (85km) from the capital by Alba Petroleos, a joint venture of the Venezuelan government and El Salvadorâ�Ös ruling party, the FMLN. Its opening is expected to be next April 29.
Funes said that the joint venture, created in 2006, is interested in extending an invitation to Chavez to the ceremony.
He told the press that it is possible that Alba Petroleos asks him to invite Chavez to be present at the opening, and that if he is so requested, he will.
The president added, though, he has not been invited to the opening of the plant and is aware of the matter through comments made to him by the ruling party, the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN).
He said that he will attend the request of Alba Petroleos to invite Chavez, because the venture has an interest in the participation of the Venezuelan president in its opening.
Funes commented that there are suspicious sectors that are saying that President Chavez's visit is designed to placate left-wing sectors after the visit of President Obama. He added that the visit would be for the opening of the plant, and would not be an official visit nor a state visit.
Funes also announced that he will travel to Caracas in the coming months in response to an invitation Chavez made to Latin American presidents. (Prensa Latina)There appears to be some confusion whether President Funes will, might, or has already invited Chavez to the opening of the facility. The FMLN already has, but Chavez hasn't responded it sounds like. Or he hasn't been officially invited by the government of El Salvador, but maybe some else has invited him. Saber. Funes also said that he is likely to travel to Venezuela as well.
On the one hand, Funes and the FMLN have the right to invite anyone they want to El Salvador and Funes has the right to visit other heads of state as he sees fit. Funes just returned from a trip to visit President Santos in Colombia and more recently hosted President Obama. That sounds like a non-aligned foreign policy to me.
On the other hand, just because you can do something doesn't mean you should. I thought that the importance of Obama's trip to El Salvador was more symbolic than anything else. However, I had also hoped that the symbolism of the state visit would lead to a more productive relationship between the two countries (specifically the FMLN) built on mutual respect. We would then be able to make progress on comprehensive immigration reform, tinkering with CAFTA, regional security, etc. All of which require sacrifice from Obama and the US and Funes and El Salvador.
I wasn't overly optimistic before the visit and now with this announcement, I am less so. I hope I am wrong though. (It's still a developing story but Funes seems to have made enough contradictory statements that it's not going to turn out well for him.)
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