Chavez Lavishes Oil Wealth on Neighbors In bid to undercut IMF, Chavez becomes Latin America's banker By Heather McPherson Posted Aug 9, 2007 8:53 AM CDT Copied Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, right, talks to Uruguay's President Tabare Vazquez during a meeting in Montevideo, Uruguay, Aug. 8, 2007. (AP Photo/Matilde Campodonico) (Associated Press) Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is spreading hundreds of millions of oil dollars around South America in an effort to limit the influence of the International Monetary Fund and forge a strong alliance. Chavez began a four-nation tour in Argentina referring to the IMF as "Dracula" and called for a united front against the US. In Argentina he promised to buy up $1 billion in debt and build a refinery; he's expected offer similar economic and energy deals to Uruguay, Ecuador and Bolivia. "We need to unite, and the North American empire doesn't want us to unite," he said. Argentina paid off all its IMF debt in 2006; critics now worry that the nation will be "Chavez dependent." Read These Next RFK Jr. suggests antidepressants to blame after shooting. Isolated tribe members show up in an unexpected place. Trump just used a spending maneuver last seen nearly 50 years ago. A government watchdog is warning the FAA about meteorologists. Report an error