Leaders of Venezuela, Libya Discuss Oil - Yahoo! News

TRIPOLI, Libya - Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, who is reconnecting his nation to the U.S. and to global energy companies, met for talks about oil Wednesday with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who is moving his country in a different direction.

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Chavez said before going into a meeting with the Libyan leader that the two men planned to discuss maintaining current oil prices.

The two Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries members were to talk about "strengthening our commitment inside OPEC to maintain oil prices and avoid that they hit the floor again," Chavez said in comments broadcast on Venezuelan state television. "Today we have a fair price for oil."

The Bush administration announced Monday that Libya is being taken off a U.S. list of terrorism sponsors and diplomatic ties are being restored, a striking success for Gadhafi's push to do business with foreign oil companies — especially American ones.

The administration also said Monday it was banning arms sales to Venezuela because of what Washington called a lack of support for counterterrorism. The move was the latest blow to steadily worsening relations between the U.S. and Venezuela, America's fifth-largest oil supplier.

"We don't need arms from the United States," Chavez, a harsh and constant critic of the Bush administration, said, adding that Venezuela is looking at the possibility of purchasing Russian fighter planes and expects to soon receive a shipment of 30,000 Russian-made Kalashnikov assault rifles.

"And we leave the door open to China," he said.

Chavez called for the world to turn its back on the United States.

"We are against America, the imperialist," he told reporters after dining with Gadhafi. "We don't accept its hegemony. The whole world should unite against America."

Gadhafi, his face partly covered by a large brown scarf draped over his Arab tribal robe, welcomed Chavez at his house, scarred with bullet holes and still showing some damage from a 1986 U.S. bombing raid.

A band played the national anthems of the two nations as Chavez, clad in a business suit, arrived and chatted with some of those waiting to greet him.

The two leaders got into a late-model Cadillac stretch limousine and were driven a short distance to the tent where they held their talks. A herd of camels watched as the car drove by with at least 20 security men trotting alongside.

The two leaders met for about an hour. Officials from both sides refused to disclose details of the discussions.

Venezuela's state-run Bolivarian News Agency said Chavez was in Tripoli on a two-day visit as part of a tour aimed at strengthening relations with North African nations. Other officials said Chavez would leave oil-rich Libya later in the day.

The State Department shrugged off the visit with a quip.

"Maybe Mr. Gadhafi and the Libyan government can talk to Mr. Chavez about cooperation on terrorism," spokesman Sean McCormack said.

It was Chavez's fourth visit to Libya. The last time, in November 2004, Gadhafi presented the Venezuelan leader with his annual human rights prize for helping his country battle "the effects of imperialism and the enemies of freedom inside and outside."

Chavez has referred in the past to Gadhafi as a "hero," harshly criticizing Western nations' actions against him, and held up Libya as a model of democracy at a time when it was regarded by some countries as a state sponsor of international terror.

The State Department's latest human rights report called Libya an "authoritarian regime" with "problems" in 14 areas, including torture, poor prison conditions, arbitrary arrest and detention and "severe restrictions" on freedom of speech, press, assembly, and association.

Chavez at times refers to Gadhafi in his marathon speeches, quoting passages from the Libyan leader's Green Book, which lays out his ideology. Chavez defines himself as a socialist and has at times spoken warmly of Gadhafi's attempts to find an alternative to capitalism.

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