00:00Terrorists which carried a possibility of increasing the price of exports,
00:03lowering competitiveness, penalties increasing the price of goods coming into the Caribbean,
00:09the revocation or non-renewal of visas, losing access to additional medical resources and not
00:16getting licenses to export oil and gas from Venezuela. Movement for Social Justice leader
00:21David Abdullah outlined these as some of the consequences which can befall the region based
00:26on policies of the Donald Trump administration and countries like Venezuela, Cuba and China.
00:32Ahead of the meeting in Jamaica with CARICOM leaders including Prime Minister Stuart Young,
00:37Abdullah stated his belief in the importance of the Caribbean taking a united approach that
00:43would underscore its sovereignty. We have the right to enter into arrangements with
00:49other sovereign states to provide for services that would improve the lives of our citizens
00:55which is what the medical brigades do here in our countries and we have that right and you
01:01can't now seek to punish us for doing what we know is best for our people. Abdullah said he
01:09was disappointed in the position taken by the Bahamas to review the Cuban medical program.
01:14In terms of this country he said because the Lauren manatee and mannequin coquina gas fields
01:19straddle our borders they might not be in as much danger as the dragon gas field which is
01:25owned by Venezuela. But Abdullah is of the view that stifling the Venezuelan economy is not the
01:30answer citing migration as one of the problems. Well for all kinds of reasons it is in the U.S.
01:37interest and in CARICOM's interest to allow us to continue to engage in economic relations with
01:44Venezuela. Meanwhile St. Lucian political activist Earl Busquet stressed that the discussion in
01:51Jamaica with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is a serious one with a lot at stake. It will be
01:57against the background that the heads of government of CARICOM met on Friday to coordinate what their
02:07response will be and many careful observers around the region have correctly observed that this is
02:17not a play-play issue. Alicia Boucher TV6 News.
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