AS Bruce Golding anxiously eyes his chance of becoming Jamaica's next prime minister, he should reflect on the pragmatic position of Prime Minister Patrick Manning's government in facilitating the right of this country and other Caricom partners to be involved in the Venezuela-initiated PetroCaribe project.

Rickey Singh

Such reflection would be politically correct in view of the very surprising claim by the Jamaica Labour Party leader last weekend that the People's National Party administration is in danger of selling out Jamaica's foreign policy interest for a few barrels of oil from Venezuela and being part of an assumed anti-USA brigade in this hemisphere.

Golding's attempt to delink Jamaica from a current attempt by Venezuela to secure - in the face of mounting hostility by the George Bush administration - one of the non-permament seats in the UN Security Council in September, seems a throwback to a degrading period in this region when some Caricom leaders were shamelessly competing to win the favour of 'Uncle Sam'.

Or is the JLP leader simply out of step with the mood of today's Caricom governments and, worse, the region's peoples?
The Trinidad and Tobago prime minister, who was in Kingston last Friday as part of a curious whirlwind tour of four Caricom states - an issue discussed later in this column - presides over Caricom's most healthy economy, fuelled by oil and natural gas exports and, relatedly, with a commanding surplus in intra-regional trade.

Neither the government of Trinidad and Tobago, for which the USA represents its single largest natural gas market, nor that of Jamaica has anything to gain from involvement in playing an ant-America card. Nor should support by Caricom states, including Jamaica, for Venezuela's bid for a UN Security Council seat - once held by Jamaica - be opportunistically translated by domestic opponents as a "sell out" for oil concessions from the government of President Hugo Chavez.

True, as the sole oil and natural gas exporter within Caricom, Manning's government, as well as that of Barbados' Prime Minister Owen Arthur, did not climb aboard for last year's inauguration of PetroCaribe that offers special concessions to signatory countries in the Greater Caribbean at this period of galloping oil prices.

GOLDING. warned Jamaican gov't against selling out Jamaica's foreign policy interest for a few barrels of oil from Venezuela

But with the passage of some months, Manning, whose government continues to strategise over the upgrading of the state-owned oil refinery at Point-a-Perre with likely Venezuelan crude, has made the commendable gesture to cease applying Caricom's Common External Tariff (CET) against petroleum shipments, under the PetroCaribe project, to participating Community partners.

Within Caricom, Jamaica currently stands out as a major, if not primary, beneficiary state of the PetroCaribe project. Further, as Mr Golding should know - even before Prime Minister Simpson Miller's recent official visit to Trinidad and Tobago - the Manning administration had left no doubts about maintaining good relations with both Kingston and Washington, while continuing to distance itself from ANY hostility directed at the Chavez government.

If not unanimity, overwhelming support for Venezuela's bid to secure one of the non-permanent seats on the UN Security Council is expected to be considered at next month's Caricom Summit in Basseterre, St Kitts, at which the Community's relations with the USA will be among foreign policy matters to be discussed.

Curious Manning Mission

THIS brings me to the matter of Prime Minister Manning's fleeting visits to four Caricom states last week, starting with Guyana and climaxing in Jamaica, as his unique way of ending his stint as outgoing chairman of Caricom.

Originally, the Community Secretariat in Georgetown had announced that Manning would be undertaking a five-nation "mission" of Caricom states as outgoing chairman - Guyana, Suriname, Barbados, Belize and Jamaica.

But by Wednesday, when he was expected to show up in Barbados, the Secretariat said in another media release that Manning had visited Guyana and Suriname on June 14 and would continue with visits to Belize and Jamaica on Friday (June 16).

No mention was made why Barbados was no longer on the list.
Whether an unofficial allusion to "scheduling problem" developed in Port-of-Spain or, expediently, in Bridgetown remained a mystery as arrangements were being finalised for Manning's presence in Jamaica on Friday.

Beyond the public relations photo opportunities, the exact nature of Manning's "mission" to the chosen four countries was not stated. Is he planning a "mission" to other Caricom countries later? If so, why was it not explained in the first official announcement?

In less than three weeks, Manning will be handing over the chairmanship to Prime Minister Denzil Douglas of St Kitts and Nevis, host for next month's 27th Caricom Summit in Basseterre.
So why did a seasoned veteran of Caricom politics like Manning, who was elected chairman at last February's Inter-Sessional in Port-of-Spain, wait until now to pursue his selective visits?.

Significantly, while he opted to travel to Central America to meet with Belize's Prime Minister Said Musa, Manning did not find it convenient (at this time?) to include any member country of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States.

There is nothing wrong in choosing the countries he did for his "mission", it is just that in the absence of any specific reason for so doing, one is left to speculate, maybe unfairly to him, about the real purpose of the "mission", as described by the Community Secretariat.

His meeting with Prime Minister Musa would have exposed him to how strongly the Belizean government feels about being harassed by the United States State Department over alleged failure to take effective actions against human trafficking.

Coincidentally, Belize happens to be one of the countries in the Caribbean/Latin American region openly supporting Venezuela's bid - in preference to Guatemala's candidature - for the UN Security Council seat for which the Guatemalan government has Washington's canvassing support.

The problems of human trafficking facing Caricom states and the unilateral application of punitive ratings by the USA for claimed inadequate corrective actions are also expected to be discussed at next month's Heads of Government Summit in Basseterre.

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