Caricom-US meeting cancelled

A meeting in Washington DC between Caricom leaders and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about the Venezuela crisis has been cancelled. The Prime Minister made the announcement at a news conference at the Diplomatic Centre in St Ann's yesterday. The request for the meeting was sent to the US Ambassador to TT Joseph Mondello. Dr Rowley did not give reasons why the meeting was cancelled by the US. He hoped the meeting would take place at a later date.

Rowley said, "It's not a question of disappointment." Rowley said there was nothing that he or Caricom said that could have caused the cancellation. He said Caricom maintained its position of non-intervention in Venezuela, non-interference in Venezuela's internal affairs, provision of humanitarian aid through the UN and solving the "dual presidency" situation through dialogue.

Rowley remained convinced there was "an area for common ground" towards a peaceful and sustainable outcome in Venezuela. He said evidence of thit was a reversal of the European Union's (EU) demand about setting fixed deadlines for new elections in Venezuela. Rowley also said the EU has accepted the view that humanitarian aid to Venezuela should come through agencies like the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

He said one Caricom prime minister would be in China soon and would continue Caricom's dialogue on Venezuela there. With Venezuela being TT's closest neighbour, Rowley said it was important Government continued to state nationally and regionally what its position was. While some people wanted TT to open its arms to Venezuela like a big brother, Rowley said, "We would love to do it." But he said Venezuela had 33 million people while TT had 1.3 million people. Rowley said TT has "a very small space with limited resources."

Last Thursday, National Security Minister Stuart Young said he would bring a note to Cabinet this week for approval of an amnesty policy that would allow Venezuelans, whether they were here legally or illegally, to live and work in TT for up to a year.

Rowley said TT must do everything possible not to find itself in an unmangeable position where events in Venezuela were concerned. He reiterated that included dissuading others from doing things where the knock-on effect "could be putting us in a situation where we can't manage."