Caribbean sets stage for thorny Venezuela talks

Caribbean nations that used to rely on cheap Venezuelan oil are now hoping to leverage their ties with Caracas to help broker a negotiated settlement to the political crisis there.

Opposition leader Juan Guaido and the government of President Nicolas Maduro confirmed that talks sponsored by the Norwegian government will be held in Barbados this week.

The island's foreign ministry told Argus today that it hopes the talks will lead to a "peaceful settlement of the domestic problems and contribute to peace and stability in the region."

A successful conclusion to the meeting would be "go a far way in reducing pressure on several countries in the region, particularly those that have been receiving refugees from Venezuela" and help normalize economic relations, the ministry said.

Venezuela´s foreign ministry said government representatives arrived in Barbados this morning.

At a summit meeting last week in St Lucia, the leaders of Barbados, St Kitts-Nevis and Trinidad and Tobago were appointed by regional trade block Caricom to help find a diplomatic solution to the Venezuelan crisis.

Caricom leaders concluded their meeting by confirming a policy of "non-interference and non-intervention in the internal affairs of Venezuela."

"This issue is one for the Venezuelans to work out," Trinidad´s prime minister Keith Rowley said. "Norwegians have agreed to our approach that there has to be dialogue, and encouraging that dialogue is where we're at."

Norway's prime minister Erna Solberg was a guest at the Caricom summit.

Caricom is playing the role of an honest broker in the Venezuelan crisis, St. Kitts-Nevis prime minister Timothy Harris said.

"It is now quite clear that our principled stance, enunciated from the outset, and our approach are now being accepted by other parties," Harris said, alluding to a more confrontational US-led approach to removing Maduro from power.

Several Caricom members that previously benefited from Venezuelan oil aid are not among more than 50 countries, led by Washington, that recognize Guaido as the country´s interim president.

Influential Caricom member Trinidad that is hoping to reach major natural gas-sharing projects with Venezuela has avoided coming down firmly on either side of the protracted conflict. The government abstained from a 10 January resolution by the Washington-based Organization of American States (OAS) not to recognize the Maduro government.

Jamaica - another major Caricom member that was once a major beneficiary of the PetroCaribe facility - voted in the January 2019 OAS session not to recognize Maduro's presidency, while not supporting Guaido either. Barbados echoed that stance.