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Babylon & Beyond

Observations from Iraq, Iran,
Israel, the Arab world and beyond

Category: Latin America

LEBANON: World's richest man happy to be in Lebanon, not shelling out

March 17, 2010 | 11:42 am

Carlos-Slim-Helu.widec When you're the world's richest man, you may find that you suddenly have more extended family than you ever imagined.

But Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim Helu seemed happy with the warm reception he's received in Lebanon, the ancestral homeland of his parents, even though he didn't seem overly eager to open up his wallet for the old country.

"I came to know the country better," he said when asked at an American University of Beirut forum Wednesday whether he was looking into local investments. "But I have seen very clearly that Lebanon is capable of sustaining growth in most economic areas, and I think Lebanon will grow."

Helu, who recently was named the world's wealthiest man by Forbes magazine, has received the welcome of a conquering hero. 

Last week, Helu met with Prime Minister Saad Hariri, and hundreds of students, faculty and guests packed into the American University of Beirut's School of Business to hear the cellphone-service mogul speak about the importance of knowledge and technology as well as recount his personal story.

Helu owns huge swaths of Mexican industries and became known in the United States in 2008 when he invested $250 million in the New York Times, becoming one of the paper's largest shareholders.

Helu emphasized support for education and job creation but also made clear that his trip to Lebanon was of a personal nature and did not indicate he would be investing in the country.

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SYRIA: Venezuela's Hugo Chavez slams Israel during Damascus visit

September 4, 2009 | 10:38 am

Chavez assad

The notoriously fiery Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez took on Israel on Thursday during a joint press conference in Damascus with Syrian President Bashar Assad, calling the Jewish state "genocidal," "anti-peace" and accusing it of implementing "America's imperialist policies."

Chavez, a vocal leftist, went on to praise the Syrian people as the "architects and designers of the resistance," condemning American and European hegemony and the "unipolar" world order, according to the official Syrian news agency, SANA.

The Venezuelan president is currently on an 11-day international tour, including stops in Libya, Algeria, Iran, Belarus and Russia.

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IRAN: Anti-American axis tightens business and military ties

October 5, 2008 |  9:31 am

Maduro_3 

Talk about provocative.

Not only did Venezuela's foreign minister reiterate today that Russia and his nation would conduct joint war games in Caribbean waters just a few hundred miles from America's shores later this year, he also chose an interesting venue to emphasize the news, just as Russian ships entered the Atlantic Ocean: the Islamic Republic of Iran, where he was hobnobbing with top Iranian officials.

At a joint press conference with his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki today, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro told reporters that in November and December 2008, a contingent of the Russian fleet will come to Venezuelan waters to conduct war exercises.

He also said that Iran and Venezuela were tightening bilateral relations "on a daily basis" in order to become role models for other developing countries (and, presumably, any country with an ax to grind against the U.S.).

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