EDITORIAL: Barbados and Hugo Chavez’s Petrocaribe

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - It is good to know that at this time when rising fuel prices continue to impact on the general cost of living, fresh thinking is being encouraged for Barbados to revisit its absence from among the countries of the Caribbean that have long been beneficiaries of Venezuela’s significantly subsidized Petrocaribe project.
Credited as a “visionary initiative” in 2008 of the late President Hugo Chavez – who recently lost his battle against cancer – some 17 countries of the Caribbean region are currently benefiting from the very favourable terms under which Venezuela regularly makes available oil shipments.
It’s of significance that, separately over the weekend, Venezuela’s ambassador to Barbados, Jose Gomez Febres, and Opposition Leader Mia Mottley took the opportunity to suggest that Barbados should move to access the benefits of Petrocaribe.