Venezuelan president wraps up visit to Barbados

Two weeks ago, Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez made her first overseas trip since taking office in January, traveling to Grenada. This week, she continued to Barbados, spending 24 hours on the island and meeting top officials, including Prime Minister Mia Mottley, on Monday.

The visit comes amid ongoing tensions between the U.S., Trinidad, Venezuela, and certain CARICOM countries, which have expressed to Washington their unease over deadly strikes on alleged drug trafficking boats in the South Caribbean.

But after talks in Bridgetown, President Rodriguez said there is a need to strengthen relations with the region, as the discussion quickly shifted to the global energy crisis and the need for energy security and regional cooperation.

“April 27th marks the birth of the cooperation in economy and trade between Venezuela and Barbados,” Rodriquez told reporters, as she invited the business community to come and invest in oil fields, also in gas exploration in Venezuela. We have also discussed the complementarity for renewable energies, so that we can together manufacture solar panels and have a complete energy sector. There are many spaces for investment, and we want to review our agreements on investment and double taxation,” the former foreign minister stated.

Mia Mottley,
Prime Minister, Barbados speaks at the Global Renewables Summit, co-hosted by Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Global Renewables Alliance on Sept. 24, 2024 in New York City. Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Bloomberg

PM Mottley highlighted the region’s energy crisis and stressed the importance of cooperation between the two nations. They also discussed manufacturing solar panels as a complementary alternative to fossil fuels, with Mottley describing the opportunities for cooperation and investment as tremendous.

“In the 1970s, when we had the international oil crisis, we had the San Jose Agreement, which helped all of us in the region, and we thank Mexico and Venezuela for that. In the 1990s, President (Hugo) Chávez would have assisted with Petro Caribe, which would have helped a number of countries in the region as well. In the 1990s, President (Hugo) Chávez would have assisted with Petro Caribe, which would have helped a number of countries in the region as well. So that over the course of the last five decades, Venezuela has been a very close friend to the region as it relates to energy security and energy efficiency, affordable access, I should say, to energy products.”

It is unclear which regional member nation the president will visit next, though critics believe she will avoid Trinidad and Guyana for now.

This is due to the lingering border dispute between Guyana and Venezuela. The case is before the World Court in the Netherlands for final determination.

Trinidad lined up squarely behind the US’s military action to remove Nicolas Maduro from power in early January. It also supported strikes against go-fast vessels in the region. As a result, relations between Trinidad and its closest neighbor have tanked to an all-time low.

As Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar publicly supported the US, angry Venezuelan officials late last year had basically declared her an enemy of the state.

Then, parliamentary President Jorge Rodríguez accused the PM of “betraying regional solidarity,” calling it an issue of honor, dignity, morality, sovereignty, and Venezuelan independence. He declared the PM persona non grata, describing her as one “who crawls like a worm” and adding, “You should learn from your own history that this is the embrace of the devil; it will lead to suffering and poverty for the Trinidadian people. If any country has been generous with Trinidad and Tobago, it is the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,” he charged.

During the Barbados visit, both sides discussed Venezuelan assistance with Spanish-language training and food production. PM Mottley noted regional interest in these areas.

“We believe that there are significantly more opportunities, especially given the fact that Venezuela is capable of producing a wide range of food because of its broad climatic conditions. We are committed to ensuring that the planes and ships that come here do not go back with their holds empty, but in fact can go back with produce that can benefit our farmers and our manufacturers,” PM Mottley said.