And when the OAS under a very courageous secretary basic, Luis Almagro, attempts to bring the organization toward acknowledging that Venezuela is no longer in compliance with the Inter-American Democratic Charter, he is not getting the full assistance of the hemisphere, and indeed much of the Caribbean Basin has not gone along with that. And if you line up the votes, who enacted favor and who abstained, you can do a pretty simple one for one comparison based on who belongs to Petrocaribe. Therefore the ramification of your question I think is spot on, you understand, which is why I believe when we talk about the Caribbean in Washington, often we think about it in the context of, you know, island countries or programs or social development, and all of these are extremely, very crucial problems.
And the dividends pay off down the road when Venezuela itself remains in the spotlight of the worldwide neighborhood. Then they have buddies that they can depend on and it pays dividends for them - How do you finance a car. So I think that at the end of the day that is a lesson frankly that we can learn, and I believe we can develop towards reversing that course. Ms. Yearwood. I agree one hundred percent with Eric. Venezuela stepped in at a time that was really crucial for much of the region and now the area is quite paying the price, whether it is in financial obligation or other areas connected to votes and other requirements that they do as a result of the-- Mr.
Increased costs in energy too now. Ms. Yearwood. Sorry? Mr. Sires. A boost in the cost of energy also. Ms. Yearwood. Oh, definitely, absolutely. Therefore I believe to the point, we are at an important point now with the expense of energy being what it is with the U.S. energy supply increasing and the region looking at ways to increase sustainable energy, whether it is through natural gas or getting the area less depending on Petrocaribe and able to make these switches to brand-new types of energy is going to make a big difference. Mr. Sires. See, I don't believe things take place by accident.
The other issue that I have is the substantial increase of China in this region. You know, we appear to be put to a lull of sleep or something because everybody appears to relocate and after that we respond. And we don't seem to capture these things up until something like this takes place, you know, like Venezuela. So sadly, you know, since I have been here we have actually been pressing-- and I understand Mr. Meeks and the other members that are here, you understand, this is an essential area for us. It is an important area for America and we truly need to concentrate.
They are going to go through the Panama Canal and they are available in and they throw cash, you understand, at these small countries, which in truth they can't afford not to accept the money. So how much of impact exists now of the Chinese? And I understand it is growing, however-- Ms. Yearwood. The Chinese impact, it is actually really intriguing to watch the method China has kind of come into the area and the kinds of jobs. Sometimes it is a sports stadium - How long can you finance a used car. I think the recent, the Baha Mar ordeal in the Bahamas, you have seen the Chinese Government can be found in in a method that the U.S.
If a Chinese developer vacation ownership enters a nation in the area they have the Chinese financing and the Chinese Government behind them. Mr. Sires. And the employees. Ms. Yearwood. And the employees. And so you have actually effectively got a package that the U.S - What are the two ways government can finance a budget deficit?. can not-- the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and all sorts of other factors, the U.S. can not complete in terms of the types of financial investment that they have the ability to take in without kind of needing to do the due diligence behind it. And it is really welcome in a great deal of locations, but what Baha Mar has actually shown us is that it can develop a very tough scenario for the countries where they go.
Farnsworth. I believe Sally raises an actually fascinating and crucial point in this context. What was the reconstruction finance corporation. You understand, the Chinese or Venezuelan design is a state-led design, so the capital of the country, the leaders in the country can say this is what we are going to do. We are going to develop Petrocaribe or we are going to construct a sports stadium or we are going to declare that we are going to develop these tasks, whereas the U.S. model is personal sector-led design. And the disconnect here is that we are dealing with smaller sized economies, island countries, and in contrast of other investment chances in other countries in Latin America, much less worldwide, these are economies that usually aren't going to draw that big financial investment other than in a couple sectors like tourist like we have actually been talking about. What the onus has to be is to discover methods to clear and establish a seamless economic area between the U.S. and the Caribbean so that personal sector capital can work. There are opportunities. Lastly, I would say that the Caribbean is becoming a a lot more complex area due to the fact that of the changes in policy towards Cuba, Hop over to this website the cross-cutting trade arrangements such as CAFTA, et cetera, and we have to think about the Caribbean now in a broader sense. In regard to Haiti, I think extremely essential is its continued integration with the English-speaking Caribbean, because these are well established democracies and it is an economic area timeshare freedom group lawsuit which holds chances for Haiti and there is now quite a great deal of Caribbean financial investment going into Haiti and vice versa.