According to the BBC, as Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez continues to receive medical care in Cuba after a fourth cancer operation, many small countries across the region have their own reasons for carefully monitoring his health including the Dominican Republic and they fear for a future without the leader who fostered the idea of “economic solidarity” between neighbors.<\/p>\n
Most susceptible to the winds of change in Caracas are the 15 or so Caribbean nations that signed up to Petrocaribe, an alliance founded in 2005, which allows oil-rich Venezuela to sell oil to poorer countries in the region.<\/p>\n
Through Petrocaribe, they are able to buy Venezuelan oil by paying between 5% and 50% of the bill upfront, followed by a grace period of one to two years. The outstanding balance can be paid in 17 to 25 years with a 1% interest rate, if the price of oil goes over US$40 a barrel.<\/p>\n
According to the World Bank, the Caribbean nations spend about 13% of their GDP on buying oil.<\/p>\n
Without Venezuelan help, they would have no choice but to resort to the commodities market, where prices are both much higher and more volatile.<\/p>\n
Instead, because of Petrocaribe, Nicaragua paid its bill in 2011 with goods such as beef, sugar, coffee, milk and, more unconventionally, with more than 19,000 pairs of trousers.<\/p>\n
The Dominican Republic – the country that received one quarter of all Petrocaribe oil shipments that year – sent sugar syrup, beans and pasta to its neighbor, while Guyana paid Venezuela in rice, and El Salvador in coffee.<\/p>\n
Venezuela sent 243,500 barrels of oil a day to 16 countries across the region in 2011, according to the latest report by state-owned oil company PDVSA which represents about 8% of its official oil production (2.99 million barrels a day in 2011). <\/p>\n
It is no wonder then that, after a meeting in Caracas this month, the Alba and Petrocaribe nations issued a statement expressing their “full and absolute solidarity” with Chavez and urging “respect” for the Supreme Court ruling that postponed his inauguration to an undefined date.<\/p>\n
Should the opposition get into power, things are expected to change as while running against Chavez last year, Henrique Capriles promised to “stop the gifts to the world on behalf of geopolitical alliances of dubious convenience” for Venezuela.<\/p>\n
But he also implied that, if elected, he would not do it at the stroke of a pen. Instead, he would review each agreement taking into account “national interests” and “international solidarity”.<\/p>\n
www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/business-21081458<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
According to the BBC, as Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez continues to receive medical care in Cuba after a fourth cancer operation, many small countries across the region have their own reasons for carefully monitoring his health including the Dominican Republic and they fear for a future without the leader who fostered the idea of “economic … <\/p>\n