The folly of Petro Caribe
Let’s talk about Hugo Chavez.
Venezuelan despot in the making or friend of the region. Well we’ve all had our fill of the Petro Caribe deal. Barbados didn’t sign on and I agree with the Government on this one. Why?Lets see….
1. Venezuela still claims half of Guyana and Aves Rock (which will give them control over most of the Caribbean Sea) do we want to give a country with those claims control over a critical strategic resource? I don’t think we should.
2. No discounting going on here, the deal is just financing really. That debt’s got to show up somewhere. How does that affect our ability to access capital markets. Maybe we need to think about this a little.
3. Our good friend Hugo wants to get into a pissing match with the US. Why should we ask to be put in the middle of that pissfest? If it escalates (from either side) the Caribbean can only suffer by being even tangentially involved.
4. Chavez isn’t universally loved in Venezula. Let’s just say that the country has an “inconsistent” relationship with democracy. Yes he’s survived coups before, he may (or may not) continue to be lucky.
5. Finally the deal doesn’t make enconomic sense. Not for Venezula, not for the country on the receiving end. Those bills have to be paid, Venezula is sooner or later going to ask “Why are we subsidising these little rocks? What do we get for that?” and when they do ask that question either they will STOP subsidising the rocks, or they’ll start to call shots. Kiss ur independence goodbye.
I remain deeply concerned that much of the Caribbean has signed onto this crap, and I really really wonder when he who pays the piper will start to call the tune.
Agree? Disagree? Do you even care?
Marginal
Few ppl (in Barbados) care about Chavez… they don’t perceive him as a threat (he’s not BLP) - but believe me Chavez is scary.
Call him Catro II - The Sequel, but with a rip-roaring petroleum economy behind him,
which amounts to even more than the Mother Russia that Castro had, backing him, in that Cold War time.
My vote? - Venezuelan despot in the making….no..make that simply Venezuelan despot
Chavez’ PetroCaribe arrangement is classic cocaine-dealer tactics.
Feed the live-for-today consumer idiots the substance they depend on (cocaine/petroleum, all same ting).
Let them use it in wild abandon, until he calls in the loan.
Then you’ll see the chickens running around with their heads cut off!
His Petro-Caribe arrangement WILL WORK for him, in the future
for there are many short-sighted Caribbean politicians around!
Hopefully Barbados will avoid the cheese in Chavez’ mousetrap!
Will we work on harnessing all the sunlight that daily busts our axxes?
Nawww. Too much hard work.
Besides…Push en come to Shove,yet
Comment by Name — June 4, 2007 @ 10:50 am
I do think that we have reason to be concerned about Chavez, however let’s not overlook the fact that he was elected. Also another fact to be considered is that a country with one of the largest oil reserves in the western hemisphere has a level of poverty that is downright depressing.
On all of the social indicators Barbados is far ahead of Venezuela.We have no resources to speak of, Venezuela has tons of them. However over the years we have had reasonably good leadership (on both sides), Venezuela hasn’t. Hence why the Venezuelans are willing to make him a de facto king.
That said, I think we do have to ask the question “What’s in Petro Caribe for Venezuela” all of the logical answers that I can think of have scary consequences for those countries that sign.
Maybe we’ll all be pleasantly surprised by the leaders of the Caribbean on this on their foresight. YEAH RIGHT!
Comment by notesfromthemargin — June 5, 2007 @ 1:40 am
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