News Analysis: Obama visits Caribbean, reasserting U.S. predominance, squeezing Venezuela influence

U.S. President Barack Obama concluded a 24-hour visit to Jamaica on Thursday, during which he also met with heads of governments from 15 Caribbean Community (CARICOM) members, reasserting U.S. predominance in the Caribbean and squeezing Venezuela influence.

It is nothing uncommon for a U.S. president to meet with the CARICOM leaders, usually during the Summit of Americas. But this time, things seem to be different, according to analysts here.

Obama flew to Jamaica on Wednesday evening and convened the meeting only a day before the opening of the seventh get-together of the government leaders in the West Hemisphere.

"There should be no need for Obama to visit Jamaica, especially at this time, because all CARICOM leaders including Jamaican Prime Minister Simpson Miller will fly to Panama for the summit as himself will do," said Damien King, co-executive director of the Caribbean Policy Research Institute. "I don't think any contention between the United States and Jamaica would need to be resolved by a face-to-face meeting."

Things became more interesting when Obama visited the Bob Marley Museum in Kingston upon his arrival. Was the president here just for the reggae tour?

Of course not. Obama has attached "symbolic significance" to his visit, King said.

REASSERTING PREDOMINANCE

The Caribbean has not been figured insignificant economically and geopolitically by the United States for a couple of administrations and has been experiencing some changes the northern super power does not want to see.

Obama is the second sitting U.S. president to visit Jamaica, with the first one being Ronald Reagan in 1982.

During the past three decades, Jamaica along with other Caribbean countries has been at a point of frustration and desperation over slow economic development. A negative spiral of slow growth, high unemployment rate and public debt has soured the countries' dynamics for further efforts.

Under such circumstances, countries here calls for more external sources of capital and investment.

Meanwhile, other economic powers around the world have been trying to concrete their presence in the region. For example, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Trinidad and Tobago in 2014, offering some 15-million-U.S.-dollar assistance to the CARICOM countries.

"This in a great extent has concerned the Americans," King said, adding Obama wants to send a signal to the Caribbean countries that their northern neighbor is still interested in the region.

King's opinion is somehow proved by what mentioned by Ben Rhodes, Obama's deputy national security adviser, at a recent press briefing.

"We absolutely feel that the CARICOM region does deserve greater attention and engagement from the United States," the president's senior adviser told reporters.

"At times people feel like the United States has not engaged these countries significantly as we should." he said, adding some "concrete outcomes" should be expected from Obama's visit.

SQUEEZING VENEZUELA INFLUENCE

During the meeting with the CARICOM leaders, the U.S. president did mention something "concrete" that are badly needed to be addressed in the region, including securing economic growth, furthering regional integration, improving government transparency and combating transnational crime.

But more emphasis was laid on the issue of energy supply.

The president said the United States has launched the Caribbean Energy Security Initiative "to help move the region toward cleaner more affordable energy" as the Caribbean has some of the highest energy costs in the world and "the expensive, often unreliable and carbon-intensive energy" has baffled the region's development.

He told CARICOM leaders new partnerships will also be introduced, including a new fund to mobilize private investment in clean energy projects in the Caribbean and in Central America.

Right after Obama made the announcement, the White House released a statement indicating that a 20-million-U.S.-dollar facility will be provided for early-stage funding to catalyze greater private and public sector investment in the region's clean energy projects

Other measures include an Energy Security Task Force to evaluate progress in the cooperation and identify steps to advance energy sector reform, regional integration, and clean energy development.

The offer seems generous, but critics believe the real purpose behind Obama's proposal is to balance Venezuela's influence in the region under the PetroCaribe program of Venezuela, which allows 17 countries including 12 CARICOM members to purchase Venezuela oil at market value but only pay a small percentage of the cost upfront; the balance can be paid over 25 years at one percent interest.

But as Venezuela has been experiencing tough domestic economic challenges since the start of the year, the United States has got a chance.

Critics say the recent verbal dispute between the United States and Venezuela also pushed Obama to visit the Caribbean.

Last month, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said he will present Obama a petition on the Seventh Summit of Americas with more than 10 million signatures calling on the United States to repeal a decree declaring the country a national security threat.

As the summit approaches, the U.S. president has to secure some support for other participant countries, observers say. Endi