Venezuela To Lend OIl To Ecuador

Venezuela will lend Ecuador oil as the latter was forced to suspend its crude exports amid violent protests, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said here on Sunday.

"We are going to lend oil" to the Ecuadorans "and they will pay" with crude when they fully recover the production that now stands at 15 percent of its full output capacity, said Chavez, whowas on a visit to Cuba.

A general labor stoppage broke out Friday in Ecuador's oil-producing northeastern provinces of Orellana and Sucumbios.

Demanding jobs and infrastructure investment, the protesters invaded the oil fields in the two provinces and began to vandalize equipment there, leading to the interruption of oil production.

The protests have forced Ecuador to suspend oil exports, a key source of the country's foreign exchange, costing it some 30 million US dollars a day in lost revenues.