Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner Tuesday opened the 35th summit of heads of state of the South American trade bloc Mercosur with a salvo aimed at financial investors who are speculating in rising food prices, according to DPA. Speaking in the Argentine city of San Miguel de Tucuman, Fernandez de Kirchner charged there was a definite connection between the rise in the prices of foodstuffs and the downswing in the financial sector triggered by the US subprime mortgage crisis. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, in turn, proposed the creation of an emergency fund to produce food that would be financed through oil income. The initiative plans to devote one dollar for every barrel of oil exported by Venezuela - the sixth-largest oil exporter in the world - with a price above 100 dollars, Chavez said. He estimated at over 2 million dollars the number of barrels of oil that his country exports each day, although 330,000 go to destinations like Cuba, the Caribbean, Central America and Argentina at below-market prices.
