CARICOM Asks US to End the Blockade Against Venezuela

Orinoco Tribune, June 10, 2023 —

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has once again asked the United States to end its unilateral coercive measures against Venezuela, so that the efforts to relaunch Petrocaribe could be successful, through which the countries of the Caribbean region would benefit from the oil initiative.

On Friday, June 9, CARICOM issued a statement after the summit in Bahamas between the heads of state of its member countries and US Vice President Kamala Harris. The statement highlighted:

In the context of the bilateral relationship with the United States, CARICOM Heads of Government urged for the removal of sanctions on Venezuela to allow countries in the Region to benefit from the PetroCaribe initiative and for progress on the exploitation of cross-border natural gas fields between Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela. The leaders also reiterated CARICOM’s consistent call for the removal of sanctions against Cuba.

PetroCaribe is an oil procurement program between Venezuela and several Caribbean countries that was founded in 2005, but was suspended in 2019 due to far-reaching US sanctions against Venezuela.

CARICOM is a bloc of 16 Caribbean countries and one dependency, namely, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Bahamas, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Montserrat (British overseas territory). The bloc also has five associate members and eight observers.

Other issues addressed at the summit included food security, and the trafficking of firearms in the region, mainly from the United States.