On Venezuela, TT must walk tightrope

THE EDITOR: The Venezuelan political situation has been dominating TT’s news cycle recently. Like many topics, unfortunately, not much in-depth analysis is done, far less explained to the average citizen. As someone who has studied international relations in Washington, DC and interacted with both American and Caricom policymakers there, I feel compelled to write this letter.

Nations, like people, make decisions and interact every day with a variety of players, nation states, as well as a host of multilateral organisations and multinational corporations. The fundamental question that should drive our foreign policy is: What is our national interest? Each foreign policy decision our country makes, each public statement by our leaders, impacts our standing in the world and impacts our relationship with these players.

As a small island developing state, dependent on trade to survive, our foreign policy is our lifeblood. What makes this crisis so important is that our closest neighbour by distance, Venezuela, is suffering internal conflict. This stems from a disputed presidential election that many nations, including the US, claim was not free and fair.

To make matters worse, Venezuela’s economy is in free fall, with shortages of basic goods and hyperinflation. This has caused a refugee crisis with millions of Venezuelans fleeing the country, an estimated 60,000 escaping to TT.

On this position, our country has been forced to balance our national interest between energy co-operation with the Nicolas Maduro regime and our relationship with the US. The Keith Rowley administration has repeatedly stated that our position is one of non-intervention and that Caricom is seeking a diplomatic solution to the impasse.

The US, our largest trading partner, and historically our greatest friend, has hinted multiple times to us that it is not happy with our position on this matter, its latest being what can only be seen as a snub – not inviting our Prime Minister to a meeting with some of our Caribbean allies to discuss, among other things, Venezuela.

This is ironic as TT is one of the closest Caribbean countries to Venezuela, a representative of Caricom on this matter, and perhaps the most affected. This should raise alarm bells in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Our Prime Minister in his latest statement has doubled down on his Government’s position, going as far as stating that history will absolve him. While I acknowledge his position, and I support a diplomatic solution, I hope for the good of our country our foreign service takes a more practical approach to repairing our relationship with the US.

We must communicate to our American friends that our relationship with them is paramount and of the utmost importance to us. American investment and co-operation on trade, security, HIV/Aids, and the countless other programmes the US Government supports and funds in TT make us a safer, more prosperous country.

While we hold to our position of a diplomatic solution, it is important that TT as a member of Caricom, and a leader on this matter, walks the tightrope to ensure that all of our international partners find common ground to resolve this impasse for the good of our region.

ADAM RAFFOUL via e-mail

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"On Venezuela, TT must walk tightrope"

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