Foreign Affairs Minister Paul Robertson explains Jamaica's position on the Caracas Energy Accord being signed by Jamaica today. - Norman Grindley THE GOVERNMENT yesterday stoutly defended a controversial Venezuelan oil deal being offered to the region, as well as its own decision to accept it.
Foreign Affairs Minister Dr. Paul Robertson told journalists he was satisfied that Guyana's current exclusion from the Caracas Energy Accord was not due to that country's territorial dispute with Venezuela. He also stressed that "Jamaica's participation in the Caracas Energy Accord would not affect Jamaica's support of Guyana's territorial integrity."
In response to earlier objections to Guyana's exclusion and the attendant suspicion surrounding the issue, the Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Ministry has, according to Mr. Robertson, stated that Caracas was willing to include Guyana in the deal, and denied that an energy advantage was being used against Guyana because of the territorial dispute.
A meeting of the three-member Bureau of Caribbean Community Heads had also given its blessing to the deal after hearing the Venezuelan position, according to Dr. Robertson. This meeting, however, took place on Monday, days after Jamaican Prime Minister P.J. Patterson had announced he was accepting the deal.
The Caracas Accord, according to the Minister, is an extension of the existing San Jose Accord, under which 11 regional nations access Mexican and Venezuelan oil under preferential arrangements. It will run in addition to the San Jose pact, and will not be a replacement or a substitute.
Under the Caracas Energy Pact, the Caribbean and Central American countries will have 15 years, plus a two-year grace period, to pay for 80,000 barrels of Venezuelan oil a day. The oil will be sold at prices ranging from $20 to $30 a barrel.
The deal being offered by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is being extended to the same 11 countries already participating in the San Jose Accord, with the lone addition of Cuba, whom Chavez has long articulated was in need of special attention because of circumstances like a U.S. imposed trade embargo. Guyana, the Minister pointed out, had never been a part of the San Jose Accord.
Apart from Cuba, the 11 other nations involved are Barbados, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama, and the Dominican Republic.
The new energy co-operation deal, says Minister Robertson, is intended to expand on the San Jose Accord by eventually including other regional countries which show an interest, given prescribed criteria like possession of a state oil company, plus the level of demand and refining capacity. The Accord also stipulates a state-to-state arrangement and an exclusion of private multinational involvement.
Prime Minister P.J. Patterson left the island yesterday for Caracas, Venezuela, where a signing ceremony for the energy co-operation agreement takes place today.
