The Allen Chastanet administration’s position on the most recent Venezuelan general elections has been a controversial one, to say the least, with opponents declaring it amounted to a betrayal of Saint Lucia’s friendship with the South American nation. But as the prime minister welcomed an OPIC delegation to our shores on Wednesday, this much-maligned decision could see Saint Lucia benefitting from a healthy relationship with United States President Donald Trump.
OPIC (Overseas Private Investment Corporation) is the US government’s development finance institution, and the May 22 visit came about as a direct result of discussions between the US president and five Caribbean heads of government, including Allen Chastanet, at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort meeting two months ago.
The delegation, led by OPIC’s acting President and CEO David Bohigian, visited several sites, including that proposed for the southern port in Vieux Fort, Cul de Sac bay and the Castries Port. A clearly delighted Chastanet expressed his gratitude.
“I want to thank the White House and President Trump in particular. He’s lived up to his promise that the OPIC team would be here within 90 days. In fact, it’s been sixty. I’m very grateful for that.”
Bohigian, for his part, expressed a desire to expand OPIC’s relationship with Saint Lucia and the wider Caribbean. “We’ve invested $3.5 billion since our inception throughout the Caribbean and here in Saint Lucia we’ve had projects that have included cocoa, and hotels and manufacturing. We’re looking to be able to do more as we meet you today and hear your vision. So we welcome the opportunity to develop that pipeline with you and meet your development goals.”
Bohigian also felt it important “to underscore the help that you’ve given us on Venezuela, which we very much appreciate”. As for Chastanet: “The meeting with Mr. Trump happened because the five countries that participated share one thing in common right now: we do not recognise the legitimacy of the current government in Venezuela. And I’m hoping that we can encourage more of the other Caribbean countries to develop a relationship with the US so we can have more dialogue. And President Trump certainly indicated that though he’s going to start with the five of us, he wants to regain the relationship the United States once had with this region.”
