Sir Ronald Sanders

Entitled "Expanding its sphere of influence: Venezuela in the Caribbean", Sanders' presentation dealt with the expansion of Venezuela’s influence in the Caribbean and the potential repercussions that could arise for the Caribbean as a result of the growing antipathy between the US and Venezuelan governments.

According to Sanders, prior to 2005, Venezuela had little influence in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries, even though for years it maintained diplomatic missions in virtually every CARICOM country.

CARICOM concerns with Venezuela centred on three things:

• Venezuela’s claim to two-thirds of Guyana;
• Venezuela’s passage of a law in 1978 which asserts not only ownership of Aves island in the Caribbean Sea but also treats it is an "island" and not a "rock" as defined by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, therefore entitling Venezuela to an Exclusive Economic Zone which would impinge on the maritime entitlements of Antigua and Barbuda, St Kitts-Nevis, Dominica, St Lucia and Montserrat; and
• Venezuela’s participation in complaints to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) over the Caribbean’s preferential access to the European Union market for bananas.

These three concerns defined CARICOM’s relationship with Venezuela and featured regularly in communiqués issued by its heads of government.

Equally, the issue of Aves Island was regularly treated as one of contention in the declarations of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).

Then three events occurred.

First, CARICOM countries – with the exception of Trinidad and Tobago which is itself a producer of oil and natural gas – suffered from skyrocketing oil prices which reached unprecedented levels placing an enormous burden on their economies and stunting development.

Second, the government of President Hugo Chavez in Venezuela benefited greatly from high oil prices.

Third, President Chavez became more strident than he had been in his anti-American stance and his denouncing of the US initiative for the establishment of a Free Trade of the Americas Area (FTAA).

Sanders says that President Chavez’s government has now become an influential player in the Caribbean, and much more attention will be paid to Venezuela than was paid to it previously.

There will also be adjustments in bilateral relations between individual CARICOM governments and Venezuela tailored to peculiar circumstances.

But, CARICOM governments will not follow President Chavez in a leftist lurch, nor will they adopt policies of nationalisation of foreign owned enterprises.

Further, they will not adopt positions in the international community, or alter their bilateral positions to suit the interests of anyone. They will continue to act in their own self-interest as they see it, mindful always, as small states, of the African proverb: "When elephants fight, the grass suffers".

Click here for the full text of Sir Ronald Sanders' Chatham House Lecture