(Trinidad Guardian) Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Dookeran is confident that T&T’s relationship with Venezuela will continue even if Venezuelan President Hugo Chavéz has to quit office because of ill health. Chavéz was reported to have developed a respiratory infection earlier this week after undergoing surgery in Cuba for cancer. He also suffered bleeding after the surgery, his fourth in 18 months.
Dookeran expressed sympathy over Chavéz’s failing health in a telephone interview yesterday. “We are sad this situation has become a little more difficult for him. We hope he can recover during this period,” Dookeran said. He said under Chavéz, T&T had benefited from several bilateral treaties.
“We have been able to maintain a good business relationship with the Venezuelan authorities and we are satisfied it will continue in the future.” He noted that in 2010 an agreement was signed between Venezuela and T&T, allowing the Loran Manatee gas field to be developed by both nations. “This treaty is one that is mutually beneficial to both of us and allows us to exploit resources more effectively.”
He lauded Chavéz, saying he generated a new pride in Venezuela, he inspired people to be patriotic and he tackled the problems of income distribution in the mainland. “Over time we should see some rewards for the Venezuelan people. Chavéz has been able to develop Latin American identity which augurs well for the new independent developments in Latin America,” Dookeran said.
He noted that even though there were some discomfort over Chavéz’s domestic policies, that “never rose to high proportions.” Prof Norman Girvan, former secretary general of the Association of Caribbean States and director of the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies at the University of the West Indies, also said Chavéz was a courageous man.
“He is a fighter and he is strong,” Girvan said. He said that he did not know any details of Chavéz’s health problems and declined to speculate on how T&T’s relations with Venezuela might be affected if something untoward happened. He also agreed that T&T had a “solid” and beneficial relationship with Venezuela under Chavéz.
