Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is scheduled to visit Guyana by month-end, President Donald Ramotar confirmed over the weekend, according to the Government Information Agency.
Maduro was elected as Venezuela’s new President following the death of President Hugo Chavez in March.
The visit will be his first since becoming President.
As former Venezuelan Vice President under Chavez’s fourteen- year rule, Maduro visited Guyana on several occasions.
Guyana is a beneficiary under the Venezuelan PetroCaribe agreement where oil is supplied by Caracas on concessional terms. There have been recent jitters in the Caribbean that there could be significant changes to this programme under Maduro. As part of a barter arrangement under PetroCaribe, Venezuela also takes a substantial amount of Guyana’s rice and padi.
The Hugo Chavez Centre for Rehabilitation and Reintegration at Onverwagt, West Coast Berbice which was built with money from Venezuela was opened on August 10,
