Venezuelan Ambassador speaks on Petrocaribe

Yoel Perez Marcano

A report earlier this week in Caribbean Insight suggests modifications in respect of the Petrocaribe oil debt by governments of the region to Venezuela’s state owned oil company known as PDVSA. Under the program, Venezuela sells petroleum to a number of countries at concessionary prices at annual interest rates of between one and two percent.   As it stands, escrow accounts are established in each country to administer the debt to PDVSA. These accounts are administered by the Central Banks but it is reported that Caracas now wants to transfer these accounts to the new ALBA Bank, which would in turn expand the program into a regional economic zone. The effect it would have on governments is not certain but there could be risks associated with foreign exchange and uncertainty on the terms of repayment of debt, on interest rates and importantly, that control of the account would rest on ALBA and not the Central Bank. On Wednesday, we asked the Venezuelan Ambassador to Belize, Yoel Perez Marcano to shed light on other issues in respect of the Petrocaribe Fund, twenty million dollar, which have been used for the capitalization of the National Bank of Belize. The Ambassador described the relations with Venezuela as extraordinary, saying that cooperation for development is likely to expand. News Five asked the Ambassador if any changes are contemplated within the mechanism of Petrocaribe.

Yoel Perez Marcano, Venezuelan Ambassador to Belize

“There have been some governments that have expressed interest in discussing certain aspects of the Petrocaribe Agenda.  But that is part of a  normal process within a regional organization that consists of eighteen member countries, with different levels of development, populations and diverse economic conditions. And at times individual governments propose certain changes that would affect their own country. Petrocaribe consists of a Pact that applies the same conditions to all its members. There is no country that enjoys privileges over another. All the rules within the Petrocaribe pact apply to all its members, who must also adhere to them. It is not possible to show preference to one country over another because then we would be violating a fundamental principle of public international rights, which call for the equal treatment of individual states. So we cannot treat Belize disadvantageously, and treat another country advantageously. But if Belize carries out the same obligations like the other countries, then Belize has the same rights as they do. These issues have been addressed in many summits and meetings of heads of government, like the one that will take place on September sixth and seventh in Haiti, where everything is resolved in a consensus.”