Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro will no longer be attending the CARICOM Heads of Government Summit today, the Barbados Nation reported this morning.
The announcement follows an impassioned address by Guyana’s President David Granger to the opening of the CARICOM Heads of Government summit in Barbados calling for full backing against a May 26, 2015 maritime decree issued by Caracas which seeks to claim virtually all of Guyana’s Atlantic waters.
Maduro was expected to arrive today but it has been revealed that Vice President Jorge Arreaza will be coming instead. No reason has been given for the change, the Barbados Nation report said.
Analysts say Granger’s address to the leaders last evening imploring their support and warning that Venezuela’s expansionist measures threatened several CARICOM countries would have left few options outside of outright condemnation by the regional body of Caracas. Maduro’s planned appearance at the summit had apparently been orchestrated by several CARICOM leaders with close ties to Venezuela through their countries’ membership of the alternative development group, ALBA. The sources said it appeared that Venezuela and its CARICOM allies were looking for a way to defuse the international uproar that has been triggered by the Venezuelan maritime decree.
Venezuela’s western neighbour Colombia has also lodge a formal objection to the maritime decree and so has CARICOM member to the east, Suriname.
Guyana has been pressing for a strong statement from CARICOM condemning the Venezuelan decree. The communique from the summit is scheduled to be released tomorrow.
