Meetings Held, But No Resolution on Petrocaribe Stoppage

News Five has confirmed with the local Petrocaribe office that meetings took place this week hoping to hash out a solution to delivering fuel from Venezuela under the Petrocaribe Accord but that there is nothing official available by way of comment at this time. On Tuesday, four officials delegated from the Venezuelan government arrived in Belize following G.O.B.’s announcement that it is suspending petroleum purchases from Petroleos de Venezuela Caribe S.A. via Trafigura/Puma and Alba Petrocaribe Belize Energy Limited due to unreliability. These were the Venezuelan vice-minister for foreign affairs responsible for Latin America; the general manager of PDVSA Caribe; the manager of Venezuela’s joint venture companies and the general manager of the Venezuela-El Salvador joint venture company. Along with the local embassy’s chargé d’Affaires, Miguel Castillo, they met with Financial Secretary Joseph Waight and APBEL chief John Mencias, then separately with Prime Minister Dean Barrow.