Jamaica agrees to Venezuela oil offer
RJR radio of Jamaica reported yesterday afternoon that Jamaica Prime Minister, Mr P.J. Patterson had announced that the island was accepting the Venezuela offer of a preferential oil sales arrangement.
The Venezuelan government has excluded Guyana from plans to export an extra 80,000 barrels of oil daily under its proposed "cheaper-oil" initiative to help ease the burden of current high petroleum prices being faced by some Caribbean and Central American oil importing countries.
Caribbean states identified to benefit from the proposed preferential sales agreement are Jamaica, Cuba, Haiti, Suriname, St Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines.
Guyana, which has been importing oil from neighbouring Venezuela - with which it has a century-old border controversy - has drawn the attention of the Caribbean Community to its exclusion from the proposed agreement because of a statement attributed to Venezuela's Foreign Minister, Vicente Rangel, that "petroleum has been used as a political weapon throughout history".
President Bharrat Jagdeo told a news conference here yesterday that Guyana was "quite pleased" with the response from CARICOM to its stand on the issue and said the Jamaica Foreign Ministry had been in touch with Guyana on the matter.
RJR reported that Patterson made the announcement of accepting the Venezuela offer in Jamaica yesterday.
President Jagdeo said the issue was due to be discussed Monday at a meeting in Barbados of the CARICOM Bureau.
The Chronicle understands the Venezuela oil offer is listed among "urgent sensitive economic issues" confronting CARICOM that the Bureau is to discuss.
In a letter to CARICOM current chairman, Prime Minister Sir James Mitchell of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, President Jagdeo has noted that a reason for Guyana's exclusion from among impending beneficiary Caribbean states, is that Foreign Minister Rangel said it was because "we have a conversation of a different kind" with that country.
"Guyana, as a matter of principle", said President Jagdeo, "has always been opposed to petroleum or food-exporting countries using these commodities as political weapons against importing countries, especially small vulnerable economies such as those of the Caribbean Community".
Mr Jagdeo further told Mitchell that in the context of deliberations at last July's CARICOM Summit at Canouan in St. Vincent, he decided to bring to the attention of heads of government this most recent development in Guyana-Venezuela relations.
Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Mr Lester Bird, last weekend openly condemned the Venezuelan discriminatory cheaper oil offer and urged that CARICOM countries that have been identified resist such a "benefit" in solidarity with Guyana.
CARICOM has been consistent in its support for Guyana against Venezuela's claim to some two thirds of its 83,000 square miles territory.
Mitchell has said he is disturbed at Guyana's exclusion from the Venezuela offer.
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