Caribbean foreign ministers show support for Venezuela

By Neysi Hernández

HAVANA (AA) – Caribbean foreign ministers meeting here will propose a declaration of support for Venezuela, a Cuban official said Friday.

Details of the propels are unknown but will come Saturday on the last day of the Seventh Summit of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) to be approved by attending heads of state, said Carlos Zamora, Cuba’s foreign ministry deputy director for Latin America and the Caribbean, at a press conference.

Venezuela is grappling with a political and economic crisis that could force President Nicolas Maduro from office in a recall vote.

Maduro has blamed food shortages and mandated power outages on an attempted coup by the U.S. and its allies in the region.

The head of another regional bloc, the Organization of American States, or OAS, earlier this week called an emergency meeting to determine Venezuela’s continued membership in the group.

Zamora said the meeting of Council of Ministers had a high degree of "unity, consensus and spirit of the members … to the issues and problems affecting the region and sensitivity to the various international issues.”

In addition, St. Lucia’s ambassador to the Caribbean Community, or CARICOM, and the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States was elected as the first woman to head the ACS.

June Soomer’s appointment takes place as the organization tries to meet the challenges of sustainable development in a context of economic crises that have been aggravated by the impacts of climate change and the destabilization of governments.

Cuba’s Deputy Foreign Minister Abelardo Moreno said a final declaration on the summit would cover items that reflect agreements reached by the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States bloc.

They include support for the Colombian peace process between the government and FARC rebels, the group’s condemnation of the economic, commercial and financial blockade Washington has imposed against Cuba for more than 50 years and the occupation of the Guantanamo Bay territory.

He also said that there was a common position on the need to improve measures to face the consequences of climate change and to improve risk management in the face of natural disasters.

The more than 20 heads of states attending the summit is the most for the regional meeting.