MIAMI (AP) – A decade-long addiction to oil subsidized by Venezuela may be coming to an end for several Caribbean nations, with a nudge from the United States.
Fears that falling oil prices could knock the wheels off the already wobbly economy of oil-dependent Venezuela have sparked apparent interest in alternatives to Petrocaribe, a trade program created by the late President Hugo Chavez that has kept the region dependent on the South American country for energy.
Evidence of that interest will be on display Monday as Caribbean leaders converge in Washington for the first Caribbean Energy Security Summit, hosted by Vice President Joe Biden. Plans for the event have been in the works for months, but with oil recently falling to below $50 a barrel, a sense of urgency has emerged given Venezuela’s increasingly precarious situation.
“It’s absolutely the case that the economic situation has deteriorated for Venezuela and therefore the risk has gone up for all of these countries,” said David Goldwyn, an energy consultant and former State Department special envoy who has been involved in organizing the summit.
All the countries of the region, except Cuba, are expected to participate in closed talks that will involve Biden and other U.S. officials as well as representatives of the European Union, the U.N., and multilateral financing agencies such as the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank.