Venezuela’s Chargé d’affaires in Belize, Alexander G. Yánez Deleuze, informed Belizean journalists hosted at a Wednesday afternoon luncheon at the Venezuelan Embassy in Belmopan that his country would convene the next PetroCaribe Summit in Belize.
The full details of the summit are pending, but according to Yánez, as many as 18 heads of governments could visit Belize for the event— possibly including Cuba president Raul Castro—and the tentative date is sometime in November or December 2009.
The chargé d’affaires noted that Belize is one of several regional beneficiaries of the PetroCaribe program, under which Belize defers 50% of the payment for oil imported from Venezuela and uses a portion of the unpaid funds to finance social projects in the country.
Yánez said the US doesn’t like the impact of the Venezuelan cooperation.
He told us that the Hugo Chavez administration in Venezuela is very concerned about a pact between Columbia and the United States, which would allow the US to occupy military bases on Columbian soil, close to its border with Venezuela.
Yánez alluded to fears of a possible US invasion, as the country is very rich in oil reserves and the South American region holds 45% of the water reserves of the globe, he said.
A press release from the US Department of State said, however, that the Defense Cooperation Agreement “…will facilitate effective bilateral cooperation on security matters in Colombia, including narcotics production and trafficking, terrorism, illicit smuggling of all types, and humanitarian and natural disasters.”
It added that, “The agreement facilitates U.S. access to three Colombian air force bases, located at Palanquero, Apiay, and Malambo. The agreement also permits access to two naval bases and two army installations, and other Colombian military facilities, if mutually agreed.”
The US has military presence in 75% of countries around the world, over 100 nations, Yánez told the Belizean media. Venezuela is, instead, promoting the establishment of “bases for peace” around the world to counter this, he said.
According to Yánez, UNASUR (the Union of South American Nations) supports Venezuela’s stance on the planned US military bases in Columbia.
Finally, Yánez extended an invitation to Belize to participate in a multi-national tourism fair, focused on promoting tourism internationally. The event, dubbed FitVen 2009, is slated for October 1 to 4, 2009, in Venezuela.