MAY 5 - 19, 2017 the EDITORIALLY INDEPENDENT PUBLICATION of the CARIBBEAN COUNCIL Region Polarised Over Turmoil Highlights This Issue

VOL 39 • ISSUE 43 CARIBBEAN INSIGHT MAY 5 - 19, 2017 THE EDITORIALLY INDEPENDENT PUBLICATION OF THE CARIBBEAN COUNCIL Region polarised over turmoil Highlights this issue... in Venezuela Click and explore: Significant divisions have emerged about the extent to which the Caribbean should respond politically to the growing internal crisis in Venezuela. Concern has also been expressed about the effect on regional stability if the situation deteriorates further, with Haiti and Dominican Republic to invigorate fears that this could lead to a refugee crisis. cross-border co-operation The divisions became public on April 26 at a meeting of the Per- manent Council of the Organisation of American States (OAS), Baha Mar megaresort finally opens which approved a resolution to convene a meeting of OAS Minis- ters of Foreign Affairs to consider the situation in Venezuela. Cuban austerity to last until end of 2018 At the meeting, the Venezuelan representative to the OAS, Car- men Luisa Velasquez, sought to have the resolution rejected, des- Guyana finalises Green State cribing it as an interference in the country’s internal affairs. Development Strategy A number of Caribbean countries voted in support of Venezuela. These included: First tenant completes construction • Antigua project in Haiti’s new Industrial Free Zone • Dominica • Haiti IMF discusses reforms at St Kitts & Nevis • Nicaragua • St Kitts & Nevis Citizenship by Investment Unit • St Vincent & The Grenadines • Suriname Major investment project leads The Bahamas, Barbados, Jamaica, Guyana, and St Lucia voted to protests in St Lucia in favour of the resolution, whilst Belize, the Dominican Republic, and Trinidad abstained. Grenada was absent. Need for Trinidad-Venezuela gas deal Venezuela subsequently decided to withdraw from the OAS in protest against the decision. The exit process appears likely to Additional funding for Hurricane take two years. Matthew recovery In an indication of the further regional polarisation that could fo- llow an increased deterioration in Venezuela’s internal situation, New rules for mining concessions the country’s Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez made clear that the Maduro Administration saw the vote at the OAS as an attempt in Dominican Republic by conservative regional governments in the hemisphere “to faci- litate regime change and foreign intervention”. Continued on page 2 > The matter has been made more complex by the decision of Luis Almagro, OAS Secretary General, to make public his opposition to Mr Maduro’s government. His outspoken comments have been widely criticised, and were described in a recent state- ment by Bruno Rodriguez, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cuba (which is not an OAS member), as ‘frenzied’. Meanwhile the internal situation in Venezuela continues to deteriorate. After weeks of growing violence culminating in the dea- ths of at least 29 people, and widely supported street protests involving many working-class demonstrators, Venezuela’s Pre- sident Nicolas Maduro has announced that he is to create a constituent assembly that will be able to rewrite the constitution. Opposition critics, however, describe the measure as an attempt to sideline the National Assembly and take absolute power, suggesting that the country may experience even greater turmoil in response to the move. In a number of countries close to Venezuela, including Trinidad, Guyana, Curaçao and Brazil, there is concern about the increasing numbers of Venezuelans fleeing their country and the implications of any future refugee crisis for subregional stability. In a recent comment to the media, Commander Garvin Heerah, former head of the National Operations Centre which co-ordi- nates Trinidad’s national security and civil defence, called on Trinidadian authorities to reinforce the country’s borders and to monitor its territorial waters more closely. His remarks come as the number of Venezuelan men, women and children in some of the country’s central, southern and south-western villages continues to increase. Mainland criminal trafficking networks have also emerged to offer transport, documentation and safe houses to those wishing to flee. In separate developments, it has become apparent that the Dominican Republic and Jamaica are no longer dependent on Ve- nezuela’s struggling state refinery PDVSA, which had previously supplied both nations with most of their crude oil needs under the 2005 PetroCaribe arrangement. The Petroleum Argus reported that the diesel for power generation that Jamaica had been receiving from Venezuela has been displaced by LNG imports, and that the Petroleum Company of Jamaica was in preliminary talks with China’s state-owned Si- noHydro to upgrade the Kingston refinery, a project Venezuela had previously said it would undertake. Other reports indicate that while Venezuela may have resumed shipments of oil to Cuba, it continues to diversify its suppliers and now has in place arrangements with Algeria, Trinidad, Nigeria and other countries. Haiti and the DR to invigorate cross-border co-operation As concerns grow about the implications of the withdrawal of the UN peacekeeping force MINUSTAH from Haiti in October, the Dominican Republic and Haiti have agreed to revitalise the two country’s Mixed Bilateral Commission. The body, which has a complex history, was re-established in 2014 to oversee the implementation of agreements reached between the two nations on issues ranging from migration to trade and cross-border security, but has been troubled, if not dysfunctional, at times. Meeting in Santo Domingo on April 27 at their first formal meeting since the Haitian elections, Haiti’s Foreign Minister, Antonio Rodrigue, and the Dominican Foreign Minister, Miguel Vargas, agreed that the body will be reinvigorated with the intention of increasing bilateral co-operation. 02 INDEX The meeting saw the Haitian government agree to provide identity documentation for some 10,000 of its undocumented ci- tizens currently living in the Dominican Republic. This will enable them to register formally under Santo Domingo’s National Regularization Program for Foreigners (PNRE). On border security, a matter of growing concern to the Dominican Republic after the departure of MINUSTAH, the Haitian Fo- reign Minister said that the National Police of Haiti (PNH) would do more to ensure that security was upheld both at the border and throughout the country. Speaking in April after it was confirmed that MINUSTAH would withdraw from the country, the Dominican Republic’s Minister of Defence, Máximo Muñoz, said that measures to strengthen Dominican security along the country’s 391km border with Haiti would continue progressively until November 2017. The effect of MINUSTAH’s departure on Haiti’s internal stability, and the related issue of illegal migration, remains a matter of deep concern in the Dominican Republic. In recent comments made during a visit to New York, the Dominican Republic’s former President, Leonel Fernández, warned that the international community had to take responsibility for Haiti as the Dominican Republic could not do it alone, and that the country “was not going to sink alongside Haiti”. His comments reflect the fears of many Dominicans, who fear that the UN’s withdrawal will leave Dominican Republic to cope with Haiti’s developmental challenges without sufficient international support. Mr Fernandez claimed that by 2050 Dominican national identity would begin to be eroded, and that by 2100 “our history, our culture and our identity, will have been lost” if cross border issues were not addressed. He said that by 2050, the populations of both countries, which currently stand roughly equal at around 12m people, could well double. moneycorp Foreign Exchange TTT Moneycorp Limited 2015 Saving Caribbean Council members money on international payments Highly competitive exchange rates Free online multi-currency Safeguarded client funds holding and payments account Expert market guidance at the end Free foreign exchange of the phone Deposit-free credit health check terms available Low transfer fees Get in touch To talk to us about our services call 0203 823 0526 or email [email protected] Moneycorp is a trading name of TTT Moneycorp Limited Registered in England: No 738837 Incorporated 1962. TTT Moneycorp Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority for the provision of payment services. Registered office: Floor 5, Zig Zag Building, 70 Victoria Street, London SW1E 6SQ. 03 INDEX THE Baha Mar megaresort finally opens. BAHAMAS Baha Mar’s Chinese stakeholders (Hong Kong-based Chow Tai Fook Enterprises), Like our publication? Why not talk to us about other services... the executive team, and hundreds of em- ployees welcomed attendees to the resort’s official opening ceremony on April We are the 24, when the two towers of the Grand Hyatt leading UK hotel were unveiled. It has been two years provider of: since the resort filed for bankruptcy in the Country Advocacy in Europe US and went into liquidation. analysis (market entry/ on Caribbean Caribbean investment) Corporate issues During the press conference, Baha Mar public intelligence President Graeme Davis responded to affairs and and due policy diligence questions about the history of the contro- advice versy and the project’s repeated failure to Find out more at www.caribbean-council.org meet deadlines by stating that the company looks forward to restoring the trust Supporting your business and the integrity of Baha Mar with its travel across the Caribbean,

Load more