CARACAS, Thursday November 05, 2009 | Update
Economy
A manufacturing plant that will produce 250 million plastic bags per year, built with Venezuela's help, will start operations in the coming days in South Central Cuba, as part of a petrochemical complex built by the two countries.
The plant, based on Italian technology, is the first of 10 projects included in the petrochemical complex which is built adjacent to the revamped binational oil refinery Mario Balmaceda, inaugurated two years ago, a director of the petrochemical complex said, as quoted by Prensa Latina.
Plastic bags are scarce in Cuba, even in foreign-currency stores, and are absent in Cuban stores where local clients must take plastic bags with them when shopping.
The plant will also produce the cover of feminine sanitary pads.
10:07 AM. DIPLOMACY. Admired by the Colombian guerrilla after his coup attempt in 1992, the then lieutenant colonel Hugo Chávez Frías received financial support by the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) for his projects after his capture that year. This mostly explains the relationship and "debt" between the parties, as revealed by a paper of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) of the United Kingdom.