The Editor, Sir:

Your editorial yesterday (Thursday, August 17) captioned 'JLP shifts stance on ties with Venezuela' reflects the most puerile logic to have visited your Opinion/Letters pages in a long time. Certainly, your editor must be capable of clearer and more analytical thinking.

The Opposition opposes Venezuela's membership of the United Nations Security Council on the very precise grounds that the hostile and bombastic crusade against the United States, which dominates its foreign policy, does not reflect the position of the Latin American and Caribbean region. As one of the region's two representatives on the Security Council, Venezuela would be expected to represent the views and interests not of itself but of the entire region. Mr. Chavez's frequent pronouncements do not suggest that Venezuela's stance on issues that will be deliberated on by the Security Council will conform to those parameters. We have not resiled or retreated from that position.

The fact that we oppose Venezuela's membership of the Security Council on the grounds stated above does not mean or require that we oppose a loan arrangement which is beneficial to Jamaica, provided there is no expressed or implied quid pro quo in relation to the Security Council seat. To equate our position on Venezuela's Security Council membership to an "apparent rejection of economic opportunities for Jamaica" is not only factually dishonest but suggests that your editor accepts the existence of a quid pro quo, that the "economic opportunities for Jamaica" are contingent on our support for Venezuela's membership on the Security Council.

Erroneous suggestions

It is also erroneous for your editor to suggest that the Opposition supported the candidacy of Guatemala. Indeed, both our Foreign Affairs Spokesman and myself on more than one occasion publicly expressed the view that a compromise candidate should be sought.

Your editor proffers the view that Jamaica is "sophisticated enough to manage a foreign policy that welcomes Venezuelan investments without undermining our friendship with the United States". He evidently does not believe that we are sophisticated enough to oppose Venezuela's membership of the Security Council without opposing Venezuela's investments in Jamaica.

I am, etc.,

BRUCE GOLDING

Leader of the Opposition