A MERE 550 MILES to the south of Barbados’ coastline is a country in dire economic circumstances. It is a country that, at its closest point, is just eight miles off Trinidad’s south-west coast.
Recent reports from that island’s Siparia village indicate that it is being swamped by unusually high numbers of Venezuelans in search of better opportunities.
Every day Venezuelans wake up to what they call “la cola”, the line. But until it hits us in the face, it is business as usual. Trinidad is only the first port of all. Other islands will follow. Where is our caring? What noises have been made by our political bosses in concern over the status of millions of suffering souls?
The genesis of this economic problem is political. We may argue over the alleged role of the Central Intelligence Agency in the destabilisation of the country or the effect of the home-grown socialist policies of the late President Hugo Chavez and his successor President Nicolas Maduro. But the fact is that unprecedented circumstances have struck our neighbour, separated from us more by a language difference than by the aquamarine, blue and brown waters between our shores and theirs. That difference was best described by former Venezuelan President Carlos Andres Perez: “We are not different, but colonialism made us live with our backs to each other.”
Venezuela began its official involvement in the economic life of the Anglophone Caribbean with its membership in the Caribbean Development Bank in 1973. In 1990, it was granted observer status in CARICOM and at the 12th CARICOM Heads of Government conference in Basseterre, St Kitts, in 1991, then President Perez invited CARICOM heads to accept Venezuela as a full member of the Community. This has never been formalised, but in 1993 Venezuela was granted “most favoured nation status” within the Community’s trading regime after the historic signing of a trade and investment agreement.
Perhaps the most substantial form of economic integration took place with the Petro-Caribe agreement. Under the administration of Chávez, an energy bloc was assembled to provide low-interest oil sales to nearby countries facing the debilitating effect of expensive petroleum imports.
Petro-Caribe, the Venezuela-led arrangement, allows participating governments to pay for petroleum over time. Countries have up to 25 years to pay off oil bills, and can also provide goods and services in exchange for oil.
Given the large slice of gross domestic product spent by several of these islands on oil imports, those that became signatories have generally gloated over its impact on their cash flows, as have some of the Central American and South American countries which signed up for the pact, which now boasts 18 members.
There is therefore an economically beneficial partnership out of our relationship that stretches back to the 1970s. Venezuela is an intimate part of our regional neighbourhood.
The poor and working classes are said to be the most vulnerable. Others with access to US dollars can afford free market prices charged by black marketers.
We urge that, as Venezuela’s closest neighbours, we give it sympathetic attention. And that the people most affected regard our voice as one that expresses anxiety over their hurting.
Let us not turn our backs on Venezuelans.
