HUGO CHAVEZ, President of the Republic of Venezuela, is scheduled to arrive in the island today for a one-day visit during which he will meet with Prime Minister P.J. Patterson in Montego Bay for the signing of a bilateral agreement under the Petro Caribe Accord on Energy Cooperation. Mr. Chavez is accompanied by eight government ministers.
Under the San José Oil Accord, which has been in effect for many years, Jamaica gets credit for 80 per cent of its oil imports from Mexico and Venezuela, transferrable into long-term development loans. The Petro Caribe Accord goes even further. It contemplates a partnership between Venezuela and some Caribbean states for the distribution of petroleum products without the need for third-party shippers. This arrangement has not received support from Trinidad which sees it as competition to its own oil strategies.
Venezuela sells 1.4 million barrels of oil per day to the United States and its oil exports account for 30 per cent of GDP. As friction between Caracas and Washington continues to grow, President Chavez has threatened to cut off oil supplies to America. Whether this would be a case of cutting off the nose to spite the face remains to be seen, but Venezuela is already courting other customers, notably China, which President Chavez recently visited. Ironically, it was he, when the Venezuela economy was shaky, who called for a higher OPEC price band for oil and he is now using the strength of Venezuelan oil for political and diplomatic advantage.
Mr. Chavez is a populist who harbours an instinctive distrust of America's foreign policy. And with good reason. Washington has hardly disguised its support for groups working to undermine his regime.
Prime Minister Patterson has also welcomed his support for CARICOM's stance on the departure of Jean-Bertrand Aristide from Haiti and has publicly proclaimed a special friendship with the president. On this basis, more favourable news may come out of the press conference to be held after the Montego Bay meeting.
President Chavez and his delegation will undoubtedly receive an enthusiastic welcome, not only because of his support on important regional issues but because the Petro Caribe Accord comes at a time when the Jamaican economy is reeling from the high cost of oil imports and can use all the help it can get in easing pressure on the country's foreign exchange reserves.
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