President of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, will arrive in St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sunday afternoon for the commencement of an official visit, three weeks after a similar trip was cancelled suddenly without explanation.
Elson Crick, communications consultant in the Office of the Prime Minister, said in an email to the media around 1 p.m. Sunday that there will be an official welcome ceremony for the South American leader at 5.30 p.m. at the E.T. Joshua Airport.
Crick said that further information on the visit will be sent to the media “in due course, once this is released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs”.
A one-day official visit of Maduro, to St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) on Oct. 6 was cancelled less than an hour after he was scheduled to arrive in St. Vincent.
The red carpet had been rolled out at E.T. Joshua Airport as SVG prepared to welcome the South American leader, who was scheduled to arrive at 10:30 a.m.
But, in an email to the media at 9:47 a.m., Crick, said the visit had been “postponed to a date to be announced”.
Maduro was expected to visit the construction site of the international airport at Argyle and hold bilateral talks with Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves during his visit.
Speculations were rife last week that Maduro will visit soon after a Venezuelan aircraft carrying what was described as an advance party arrived in the country.
Maduro has borne gifts and messages of solidarity during his visits to several CARICOM nations over the past few weeks.
However, some political observers say the trips are an attempt to drum up support within the bloc amidst the on-going border dispute between Venezuela and Guyana, a CARICOM nation.
During a visit to St. Lucia on Oct. 17, Maduro called for the creation of a high-level commission between Castries and Caracas.
He said that body will spearhead events for the 2017 commemoration of the bicentennial of the martyrdom of Caribbean and Latin American patriot Jean Baptiste Bideau.
On Sept. 24, Maduro visited St. Kitts and Nevis and storm-ravaged Dominica carrying messages of solidarity and offers of support.