Venezuela has not clarified Guyana's access to oil deal - Foreign Ministry Stabroek News October 18, 2000 The government here is still unclear whether Guyana will be a beneficiary under the Caracas Energy Cooperation Programme in the context of the San Jose Accord, according to a statement it issued yesterday. Guyana has a separate agreement with Venezuela for the supply of oil and it is unclear whether the benefits of the new preferential programme would be extended to it. The Caracas Energy Cooperation Agreement will provide crude oil to oil-importing countries who are not signatories to the San Jose Accord on a preferential basis. The present beneficiaries of the San Jose Accord are Barbados, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama and the Dominican Republic. Together with these countries, other CARICOM members and Cuba will now be able to benefit under the new facility. A statement issued after Monday's CARICOM's Bureau meeting in Barbados said that Venezuela's offer "provides scope for other interested CARICOM oil importing states to participate through bilateral agreements ... the facility is open to other CARICOM states who express an interest in participating under its terms and conditions." However, a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday following receipt of a letter from Venezuela's Foreign Minister, Jose Vicente Rangel, said that Rangel had not "clarified Guyana's status vis a vis the new agreement which Guyana understands includes countries other than the original beneficiaries of the San Jose Agreement". Guyana had raised the issue of its exclusion from the offer and had importuned CARICOM to reject the offer and show solidarity with this country. Georgetown had also expressed concern about the remarks attributed to Rangel in which he said oil had always been used as a political weapon and Guyana had been excluded because it had a dialogue of a different kind with Caracas - a clear reference to the territorial controversy between the two countries. At Guyana's insistence, the issue was placed on the agenda of Monday's Bureau of CARICOM Heads meeting, which was held in Barbados. The present members of the Bureau are Prime Minister of St Kitts/Nevis, Dr Denzil Douglas; Prime Minister of St Vincent and Chairman of CARICOM, Sir James Mitchell; and Prime Minister of Barbados, Owen Arthur. With Barbados and St Vincent being beneficiaries of the Venezuelan offer, local observers believed that Guyana should have been invited to the meeting, if only because it was at its insistence that the issue was placed on the agenda. Guyana's presence at the meeting, local observers felt, would have afforded the issue a balance of opinion. Its concern has not been relieved given that from the communique issued regional interest seemed to have taken a back seat to the national interest of the individual member states. With oil on a preferential basis being made available to the CARICOM States, regional solidarity with Guyana in the controversy with Venezuela could be undermined, some observers feel. In the communique issued after the Monday's Bureau meeting, the Heads welcomed Venezuela's offer of an energy accord to supplement the existing San Jose Agreement, thereby providing additional support on a bilateral basis to several oil-importing countries in the Caribbean and Central America. It also took note, the communique said, "of the public statements made by the Foreign Minister of Venezuela which confirmed that access to the facility is open to other CARICOM states who express an interest in participating under its terms and conditions. "Finally the Bureau considered the initiatives of President Chavez in favour of developing countries of the Caribbean and Central America to be extremely timely, given the recent escalation in oil prices and the continuing uncertainty arising from the situation in the Middle East." Observers note that no mention was made in the communique of continuing solidarity with Guyana on Venezuela's territorial claim which some see as a worrying sign for the future. They note too that the Jamaican government seemed to have put undue pressure on the Bureau meeting with the announcement of its acceptance of the offer just prior to Monday's forum. Jamaica's Prime Minister, P J Patterson, according to President Bharrat Jagdeo at a press conference on Friday at the Office of the President, had called to express its support for Guyana's position. However, ahead of Monday's meeting, the Jamaican government announced its acceptance of the offer and its understanding that the proposal was open to all CARICOM countries willing to abide by the conditions set out by Venezuela. The Foreign Ministry statement which noted that Rangel's letter was written on October 16, called attention to the coincidence of the letter and the Bureau statement which said that the Venezuelan offer was open to interested CARICOM states. Follow the goings-on in Guyana in Guyana Today