Has the controversial and contested Venezuelan elections become a Caribbean Community (CARICOM) problem by default?
This is an important question that faces the region having played a vocal and tangible role in helping to shape the framework for the July 28 presidential election which has returned Nicolás Maduro to power.
The South American neighbour has had a checkered historical relationship with CARICOM member states. Once an economic powerhouse in the hemisphere due to its abundance of oil and natural gas, the country has been fraught with racial and social issues, as well as the classic class divide with the wealthy ruling class comprising mainly white Venezuelans, with the masses at the bottom, comprising black, mixed and indigenous peoples.
For context, when the late president Hugo Chávez, a mixed-race military man of working-class background, was elected president from 1999 and served until his death in 2013, he enveloped the aspirations of millions of poor Venezuelans who had not shared in the country’s enormous oil wealth.
Tragically, like many oil rich countries, the profits of the liquid gold seldom trickle down to make a meaningful impact on the lives of those at the bottom of the economic ladder. His promises to create better conditions for poor Venezuelans endeared him tremendously to the masses.
Under the leadership of Chávez, Venezuela bolstered its relationship with the region. One of the most important outreaches to CARICOM came in 2005 when Chávez extended his Petrocaribe programme to provide greatly subsidised oil to the region.
The programme won Venezuela and its leader Chávez several friends in the Caribbean, who were expectedly thankful given the enormous cost of energy and the foreign exchange burden it causes.
Importantly, Barbados, while still a strong ally of the Spanish-speaking nation, said thanks, but no thanks.
As relations between Venezuela and the United States deteriorated, the region has tried to be a “friend” in the middle. That role has been amplified with Chávez’s successor Maduro as the region tried to aid in cooling tensions between Maduro and opposition parties.
Regional leaders, including Barbados’ Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley were key figures in negotiating electoral conditions for the recently staged presidential elections, with the agreement signed in Barbados last year.
Next came the Argyle Agreement for which St Vincent & the Grenadines leader, Dr Ralph Gonsalves played a lead role to halt the growing tensions between Venezuela and Guyana over claims by Venezuela to a sizeable portion of Guyana’s oil-rich territory.
The Caribbean and Venezuela are inextricably linked. The economic troubles in the South American country have impacted Trinidad and Tobago where thousands of Venezuelans have fled. The country has oil and financial agreements with several CARICOM nations. The territorial dispute with Guyana, though tempered, remains unresolved with Maduro still claiming nearly 75 percent of his CARICOM neighbour’s territory. Even more important, the region wants to keep the Caribbean space free of military conflict, a spectre that remains given the geo-political importance of Venezuela.
With all this, can the region simply walk away from the deep friction that is developing over the election results that keep Maduro in power in Venezuela? We think not.
Surprisingly, following the recently staged CARICOM summit, chairman and Grenada Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell was reported by the Trinidad Guardian as saying: “CARICOM does not have to have a position. . . . Elections in Venezuela are domestic matters. Firstly, Venezuela is not a member of CARICOM. Secondly, we expect, and it has already happened, that members will indicate their position.”
Prime Minister Keith Rowley, in a separate statement, issued an ominous warning that interference by “outsiders” in Venezuela who may want a different election outcome, were basically asking for trouble.
“When the United States, Canada and the European Union decided to change the Government in Venezuela by force, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Mexico, Uruguay all took objection because a bad situation was about to get worse. “We believe . . . that any attempt to forcibly change the Government of Venezuela by outsiders is asking for trouble, yet unknown . . .,” said Rowley who was speaking during a meeting of the ruling People’s National Movement and reported by the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC).
Prime Minister Mottley who held a prominent visual presence in all the interactions has not issued a public statement on the election results, though a local ally of Venezuela Mr David Denny and that country’s ambassador Martha Gabriel Ortega Peraza want an endorsement from the region of Maduro’s presidential win.
