Venezuelan Executive Vice President Elias Jaua on Monday brushed aside any possibility of accepting a Colombian electricity supply offer. Jaua said that the government "is busy and working to power up its own Cuban independent electricity system," therefore the offer made by Colombian authorities was superfluous. Meanwhile, Alà RodrÃguez, the Minister of Electric Energy, said that he could not make any comment because the (strained) relations between the two countries must be considered.
Earlier, Hernán MartÃnez, the Colombian Minister of Mines and Energy, said that the Cabinet was discussing the possibility of exporting to Venezuela the same amount of energy that it was shipping to Ecuador, Efe reported. MartÃnez said that Colombia is not longer selling energy to Ecuador because the dams of its neighboring country had been filled and the government of Rafael Correa decided to stop purchasing energy at such a high price.
"We have a small surplus of energy that could be sold to Venezuela if they request us to do so," the Energy Minister said. MartÃnez admitted that Colombia has not received any formal request by Venezuela.
| I wouldn't push it. You could use the revenue, true, but it just creates trouble. Let Oogo stew in his own juices ... |
Jaime Bermúdez, the Colombian Minister of Foreign Affairs, had also said that his country could help Venezuela with power supply. |