Following a brief hiatus in bilateral relations, Prime Minister Philip J Pierre last week visited Venezuela where he met with President Nicolàs Maduro to solidify and enhance longstanding diplomatic relations between Saint Lucia and Venezuela.
Saint Lucia, in 2018 (under then Prime Minister Allen Chastanet), took a strong immigration stance against Venezuela.
Chastanet at the time said he was deeply concerned by the situation in Venezuela where months of protests (as noted on ‘Reuters’) against the country’s president led some regional allies to turn their backs on one of the world’s top petroleum producers.
“I have asked the Ministry of Immigration to look at imposing a visa restriction on Venezuelans coming to St. Lucia,” Chastanet said back then.
Prime Minister Philip J Pierre, on Monday however, said Saint Lucia “has a right to be friends with whoever” it wants.
“We visited Venezuela last week Friday for a one-day visit (and) accompanying me was the Minister for Infrastructure and the Minister of External Affairs. This is nothing new, Saint Lucia has had diplomatic relations with Venezuela from 1979; in fact, the first state visit to Venezuela was done by Sir John Compton.
Saint Lucia continued to maintain these relations with Venezuela from that time (but) there was a small break in relations (under) the former administration,” Pierre said.
He added that the former administration refused to accept the credentials of the current Venezuelan ambassador to Saint Lucia.
“We re-established these relations and the credentials of the ambassador were accepted and from that time we have been working with Venezuela to strengthen these relations,” Pierre said.
Saint Lucia will benefit tremendously from the visit, the prime minister told reporters. In fact, he said, there will be “direct benefits that the country is going to accrue almost immediately.”
During a Zoom meeting scheduled that same day, PM Pierre and officials from Venezuela were set to discuss a myriad of topics.
That meeting would focus on “how Saint Lucia can get fertilizer for its farmers, housing assistance, (etc.) The fertilizer should be here next month. We dealt with infrastructure materials for road construction, we signed an air services agreement and are expecting some results very soon,” Pierre said noting that “we reiterated our position that we think the sanctions against Venezuela should be removed… we said so in the U.N. last year (and) we said so this year.”
Since 2006, the United States has imposed a wide variety of sanctions on Venezuela. The most significant, the Council on Foreign Relations noted in 2022, are preventing the Venezuelan government from accessing the U.S. financial system; freezing the bank accounts and other assets of the Nicolás Maduro administration; blocking oil imports from the state oil and gas company, PDVSA; and imposing penalties on individuals who the U.S. government determines have undermined democratic processes or committed human rights abuses. Among those targeted are Maduro himself, eight supreme court judges, and the director of the central bank.
Said Pierre: “We are very proud of our relationship with Venezuela and we will continue to make the call that the sanctions be removed. We think the sanctions are unjust and the people of Venezuela should be allowed to plot their own affairs and again that’s a point we’ve made all the time that we do not interfere in the internal affairs of any country.”
Minister for External Affairs Alva Baptiste told the press that they (prime minister and other officials from Saint Lucia) met with the Ministers for Foreign Affairs, Transport, Tourism, Agriculture and Public Policy, apart from the Vice President of the Republic and President Maduro himself.
“I think we agreed to cooperate on a multiplicity of levels including agriculture, education, the area of energy… (and) we proceeded to sign an MOU to cooperate in those very clear and practical areas that will impact positively on our country. We also signed a clear roadmap to how we can actually deal with the air services agreement that will facilitate the Venezuelan carrier to operate in our jurisdiction,” Baptiste said, adding that it will create an improved framework for both tourism and trade between Venezuela and Saint Lucia.
“I think we are going to start a new engagement for trade… cooperating on a fundamentally different level. Our visit really and truly was to ensure that we create an improved framework for our country to match our basic need with greater possibilities. Undoubtedly it was a one-day meeting that covered a lot of ground,” Baptiste said.
Be careful honorable Pierre; tread cautiously and consider well, that the Venezuela of (late ) Honorable John Compton’s times is not the Venezuelan that emerged into the 21st. Century.
In fact, the social, political and economic constitution of the entire Caribbean rim have suffered such upheavals that virtues of humanitarian stewardship of human life has now fallen under the cutlass edge of oppression , deceit, greed and destruction of humanity and the environment.
Therefore it becomes necessary that prudent rulers ponder well the path of their feet and walk wit the determination and courage to be a healer of the breach;
One, who, passing through this 21st. Century desert of spiritual wickedness in high places, promotes ways in which to transform it into wells of righteousness in our Caribbean paradise.
Be vigilant, Honorable Pierre
pas quitay kabuite van gwiff lione ba-ou pour chewyer.
May GOD guide you in your endeavors of governance of St. Lucia.