WASHINGTON (Reuters) —U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will discuss energy security in the Caribbean, illegal immigration and dismantling of transnational criminal networks during a trip to the region later this week, State Department officials said this week.
Speaking at a briefing, U.S. Special Envoy for Latin America Mauricio Claver-Carone told reporters that U.S. accusations about a labor program that sends Cuban workers, particularly medics, overseas was also going to be among the topics that Rubio will tackle with his counterparts.
Washington has threatened to halt visas for government officials in countries that receive Cuban doctors, whom it says are being exploited. In response, many Caribbean leaders have said they adhere to international labor standards and that the medical services Cubans provide are essential.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio of Florida
According to an internal memo seen by Reuters earlier this month, a number of small Caribbean nations with citizen-by-investment (CBI) programs could also see wider visa restrictions.
“CBI should not be a major part of these smaller islands’ GDP,” Claver-Carone said, saying these attract “nefarious actors from China, Iran and other countries into the Americas, which then becomes a security challenge for all of us.”
President Donald Trump has floated a similar program, in which foreigners could access U.S. citizenship via a $5 million “gold card.”
On energy, Claver-Carone also signaled Washington would support oil production in Guyana and Suriname, and that it wanted to “make sure that Guyana has the security necessary” amid a territorial dispute with neighboring Venezuela.
“That’ll be where a lot of our conversations will be focused,” he said of developing the region’s oil output, adding that Washington does not see renewables as a substitute.
Despite producing few emissions, the Caribbean’s high debt loads and low-lying geography make it among the most vulnerable regions in the world to the impacts of climate change.
Trump on Monday issued an executive order declaring that any country buying oil or gas from Venezuela, which has historically exported its oil across the Caribbean, will pay a 25% tariff on trade with the U.S.
By REUTERS
Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk and Sarah Morland; Editing by Chris Reese and Leslie Adler
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Humeyra Pamuk is a senior foreign policy correspondent based in Washington DC. She covers the U.S. State Department, regularly traveling with U.S. Secretary of State. During her 20 years with Reuters, she has had postings in London, Dubai, Cairo and Turkey, covering everything from the Arab Spring and Syria’s civil war to numerous Turkish elections and the Kurdish insurgency in the southeast. In 2017, she won the Knight-Bagehot fellowship program at Columbia University’s School of Journalism. She holds a BA in International Relations and an MA on European Union studies.
Sarah is a British-French journalist covering news from across Latin America and the Caribbean, including gender violence, mining developments, regional finance and conflict in Haiti. She joined Reuters in 2019 and studied investigative journalism at City, University of London. Based in Mexico City, Sarah enjoys spicy food, dad rock and befriending the local cat population.
