Show solidarity with Guyana
Editorial
The news that Venezuela is to provide 80,000 more barrels of oil per day (bpd) under a preferential arrangement to a select number of Caribbean and Central American countries - but excluding Guyana - has understandably raised concerns here. Adding further weight to these concerns have been quite direct remarks by Venezuela's Foreign Minister Jose Vicente Rangel in an October 2 article in El Universal in which he said that "oil has always been a political weapon over the years" and that for now Guyana will be excluded from the agreement "because we have talks of another nature". It is quite apparent that Venezuela has decided not to include Guyana in this new arrangement dubbed the Caracas Energy Agreement because of the ongoing and heightened border controversy between the two countries. Guyana currently receives oil from Venezuela's state-run PDVSA through a bilateral arrangement dating back to 1986 and though one would not necessarily take exclusion from this addendum to the San Jose Agreement as a sign that this oil supply tap will eventually be turned off, we had better be prepared. Increasingly, Venezuela is showing it is prepared to play hardball on the border controversy and President Chavez has exhibited a penchant for great dramatic flourishes in the way he governs. As we have argued before in these columns, Guyana must start scouting alternatives to oil supply from Venezuela or at least multiple suppliers to cushion the shock of any sudden upheaval in its petroleum arrangements. The volatility of the international petroleum market and the threat of price spikes are also reasons why we must look for even greater assuredness in our oil supply details. There have been some discussions with Trinidad's Petrotrin on alternative arrangements but these have gone on at a much too leisurely pace. Guyana must also seek from its CARICOM brethren a commitment that their support for this country's case in the border controversy might not unwittingly be shaken by Venezuela's seemingly generous offer which Foreign Minister Rohee has dubbed the biblical 20 pieces of silver. On the face of it, the addendum to the San Jose Accord contains features which are arguably more attractive than the current arrangements Guyana benefits from. Under the addendum, Venezuela will offer 15-year soft loans and will in the case of Cuba accept a barter arrangement for sugar or services in lieu of payment. Under the existing arrangement with PDVSA, Guyana can benefit from a credit facility which has not been recently utilised for various reasons and at one point there was a barter arrangement for bauxite though this is no longer effective as Venezuela began using its own bauxite deposits. Be that as it may, there was clearly nothing preventing Guyana's inclusion in this enhanced facility especially as it is one of the needier cases in the region. If the reason for it being left out was solely because Venezuela wanted to pile on economic and political pressure on Guyana then CARICOM countries which have been included are morally bound to decline the offer. For what is an integration movement if it doesn't show solidarity with one of its member states in the area it matters most - territory? Where will Belize, Jamaica, St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Lucia, Suriname and Haiti stand on this issue? It will certainly be a test of this often-mouthed concept of unity. We support Minister Rohee's call for CARICOM countries to reject the Venezuelan offer as a gesture of clear solidarity for Guyana's territorial integrity and also as a message to Caracas that the integration movement is doughtier than a few thousand bpds. Antiguan Prime Minister Lester Bird, according to the Caribbean News Agency, has already made his position clear that CARICOM members should not take up this offer unless Caracas was to reverse course and include Guyana in it. Presumably the government here is lobbying its CARICOM counterparts on the oil offer and the decisions of the individual member countries will be awaited with great interest.
 Follow the goings-on in Guyana
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