[dropcap]I[/dropcap]n February 2017, Saint Lucians who returned home from Venezuela after a scholarship gone wrong came to the STAR to recount the difficulties they had faced. They gave a report of the gross social unrest in the country and how it affected their access to food supplies, health care and other basic amenities. Their lives were threatened: two had been robbed at gunpoint. At the time, with no degree to show for their efforts (although praised by local and Venezuelan government officials, the school was not accredited) they were concerned about their safety in Venezuela—and so they left.
Venezuela’s socio-economic decline is reported to be a result of policies set by deceased President Hugo Chávez and followed by President Nicolás Maduro. From the view of the US State Department: “President Maduro’s policies are characterized by authoritarianism, intolerance for dissent, and irresponsible state intervention in the economy that has stoked hyperinflation and led to negative economic growth in a country with the world’s largest proven oil reserves.”
By December 2017, long after Venezuela’s situation had developed into a humanitarian crisis, Leiff Escalona, ambassador to Saint Lucia from the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela announced: “The situation is becoming better.” She said: “In terms of food, we have a financial blockade, an international blockade by the United States and, of course, this kind of blockade interrupts normal imports in Venezuela, but it is possible to find new ways, different solutions to guarantee food and medicine for the people.”
This is how the US State Department references the blockade cited by Escalona: “On August 25, 2017, the United States announced financial sector sanctions that prohibit US persons from dealings in new debt and equity of the Government of Venezuela and its state oil company. The sanctions deny the Maduro regime a critical source of financing with which it maintains its rule, restrict the Venezuelan government from using the US system to restructure existing debts, and protect the US financial system from complicity in Venezuela’s corruption and in the impoverishment of the Venezuelan people.”
Now international media reports say thousands of Venezuelans a day are spilling over Colombian and Brazilian borders or sailing into the Caribbean as refugees. They all testify to a lack of jobs and being on the brink of starvation. The Venezuelan economy is imploding and hyperinflation makes living conditions unbearable, continuously catalyzing crime and violence. Venezuelans have also been subject to the resurfacing of deadly diseases such as malaria and a dire shortage of contraceptives has reportedly led to unsafe abortions and the spread of deadly STDs such as HIV/AIDS.
How does this affect Saint Lucia? Prime Minister Allen Chastanet commented last week about how our local security is threatened by Venezuela’s social unrest. He said: “We’ve seen a huge influx of drugs and arms associated with Venezuela. Recent signing on to the Lima Group was to make sure that security becomes a priority because, more so than even human rights, security is a big issue. Security can undermine this hemisphere if, in fact, the situation in Venezuela goes unattended. As the situation continues to worsen, this becomes an even greater threat to the region and I am very concerned as to the impact here in Saint Lucia.”
The Lima Group comprises Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Saint Lucia that have declared discontent with Venezuela’s upcoming presidential elections. All 14 countries agree that the elections will be unfairly executed while Maduro allegedly holds members of the opposition party as political prisoners. The Lima Group made further statements at the VIII Summit of the Americas in Lima, Peru on April 13-14, 2018. The United States has also agreed to the Lima Group’s declarations and pledged $16 million monetary aid to Venezuelan refugees.
PM Chastanet also noted last week: “Anybody that wants to continue to support Venezuela—and the support I am talking about includes being in denial, pretending that everything is okay and it’s only propaganda that is the problem in Venezuela—the evidence is there to the contrary . . . There is a problem and we’re hoping that the government in Venezuela will recognize that there’s a problem.”
He continued: “When you close down your parliament and replace it with another self-appointed, when you’re continuously going after the opposition . . . That’s why I thought the minister of foreign affairs, in her presentation, was on point when she asked what the opposition would say if the government was doing here what is happening out there: ‘Imagine if less than one per cent of what’s taking place in Venezuela was taking place in Saint Lucia. How would the opposition react to that?’ ”
This was the reaction of the former foreign affairs minister and member of the Saint Lucia opposition, Mr. Alva Baptiste: “Saint Lucia has always taken up the position of a good brother, trying to play a balancing role in our hemisphere. We consider the US and Venezuela to be our brothers and so we are trying to put peace between Saint Lucia and Venezuela and not take sides.”
He continued: “It’s not in our best interest to take sides and to encourage a situation where we put one against the other. Of course, unless all the issues are before us, then we cannot make any statement in a categorical fashion as far Venezuela is concerned. I cannot rely on the comments of our prime minister to respond to such a serious matter.”
