treva-"is there a chance that his connections to Canadian politicians is hindering KRY's success?"

i dont believe ties to CANADIAN politicians is what grz/hecla had in mind when they spoke of limited political ties...imo they were talking about ties to ven politicians....kry has links to several ven politicians, some good (and are probably helping), some not (and probably are'nt)....believe it or not i think the BIGGEST reason for holding up the permit actually is "environmentally based political reasons"....

you're talking about a large project in the middle of a large national forest inside the rainforest...from a "common sense approach" if you've ever seen pictures of LC you'd know that it is already a wasteland (not a pristine rainforest); also, if you follow the illegal mining pollution stories you'll know that kry could'nt do any worse and will have to restore LC when they are done...

the problem in my mind is that chavez has made a lot of promises over the years (many conflicting) and soon will have to decide which direction to take.

1-he can grant the permit and have his opponents throw "you said you were an environmentalist"(this is why i'm sure they're looking over the environmental part of this real well, he wants no mistakes down the road), "you said you would'nt let the capitalist corps steal our resources", blah, blah, blah".....

2-or he can NOT grant the permit and have continued riots and discontent from his people regarding labor, stalled beaurocracy, illegal minor pollution, and lose a buttload of money, and get in line for more international problems/arbitration and have to pretty much start over....

imo he'll go with door #1...at least that way he can make some $$$ and make some of the natives a little less restless...