Jamaica to Host the 10th Anniversary of Venezuela’s PetroCaribe Summit

The event will also commemorate the passage of 200 years since the drafting of the Carta de Jamaica by Venezuelan-born Latin American liberator Simon Bolivar, according to an official statement.

Jamaican leaders, including Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, gathered last Thursday in Kingston to honor the legacy of late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the founder of PetroCaribe.

“The solid ties of friendship that exist today between Jamaica and Venezuela are a genuine testament to the fraternal outreach and generous spirit of Hugo Chavez,” deputy foreign minister Arnaldo Brown said during the event.

He pointed to several projects in Jamaica that were made possible through the PetroCaribe initiative, such as the upgrading of the Petrojam refinery and major renovations to the Montego Bay Sports Complex and the Port Maria Civic Center.

“We will also officially open the Simon Bolivar cultural center, which stemmed from a request by President Chavez and which we are indeed pleased to honor with its completion. The center will play an important role in linking the cultures of Jamaica and Venezuela and the wider Americas towards greater understanding among our peoples,” Brown said.

Chavez, who called his political program the Bolivarian Revolution, officially renamed the Andean nation as the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.