MS HOUSTON: Greetings, everyone, and welcome. I'm Mignon Houston, the deputy spokesperson at the U.S. Department of State. It is my honor to serve as your moderator for today's on-the-record call where we will be previewing the Secretary's travel to Jamaica, Guyana, and Suriname. Joining us are U.S. Department of State Spokesperson Tammy Bruce and U.S. Special Envoy for Latin America Mauricio Claver-Carone.
Before we begin, I'd like to go over just a few ground rules. This is an on-the-record call. Information may be attributed to the speakers by name and title. We ask that the contents of the call be embargoed until the conclusion of the call.
With that said, we will now begin with opening remarks by the spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State, Tammy Bruce. Spokesperson Bruce, you have the floor.
MS BRUCE: Hi, there. Thank you very much, Mignon. I appreciate it. Welcome aboard, everybody. Normally, I get to see your faces, but here we don't have that. But what is thrilling is, again, being able to introduce to you and describe a new visit by our Secretary of State to a number of different countries.
As we've seen from the beginning of his work here, it's a commitment of his, of course, to visit not just our region, but it's I think a very clear way that he views how diplomacy works, which is something that really is best done in person when you're right across from someone. And understanding the countries and the nature of what's happening around the world is really best understood when you're there. And it's been very exciting from the beginning where this kind of approach has mattered to him really from the start.
So, he made his first trip abroad - I think many of you will remember - as Secretary of State in February, and he sent a clear signal that he is, in fact, committed to prioritizing the region that we call home. It matters significantly, and, of course, it is now back in front on the issues of what matters to us, and he is making that clear again with this trip. Of course, as a U.S. senator and lifelong resident of South Florida, Secretary Rubio has deep ties to the Caribbean and Latin American communities in the United States - ties that reflect the close historic relationships our nation has cultivated with our regional neighbors. And as announced yesterday, the Secretary now will embark on his second trip to the region, just two months after President Trump took the oath of office.
On Wednesday and Thursday, he will travel to Jamaica, Guyana, and Suriname. And while in Jamaica, the Secretary will also meet bilaterally with heads of state from Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, and Haiti. The United States, of course, we enjoy strong, enduring partnerships across the Caribbean. When the Caribbean prospers, the United States prospers. Our people-to-people ties are also vital. You see that in the choices that the Secretary makes in his choices about again traveling, the nature of what diplomacy really means. Millions of Americans trace their roots to the Caribbean, enriching our society in countless ways. Likewise, hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizens live in Caribbean nations, deepening those ties every day.
We also, of course, collaborate closely on security, particularly to disrupt narcotics and firearms trafficking and combatting transnational organized crime through efforts like the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative. And together we will enhance shared economic prosperity and strengthen energy security as well. We will also address illegal immigration, seek to dismantle transnational criminal networks, and push back against malign influences that threaten the stability of our hemisphere.
Through the great leadership of Secretary Rubio, our enduring partnerships will strengthen, protect, and bring prosperity to our region. And we've already seen the results of that with all of his trips and the commitment he has made in a variety of regions, which will only increase and create even - delivering more dividends for our country but also for the world itself.
So, I look forward to helping him advance these goals while on this trip. It's been a very exciting time, and it's great to work with him in this framework because you get to see the real nature of his commitment to his job, to this country, and to the future for our nation but also for the rest of the world.
All right, Mignon. Thank you.
MS HOUSTON: Thank you, Spokesperson Bruce. It's a real pleasure to have you here and really set the tone for this discussion, so we appreciate your remarks. At this time, we'll now open the floor for our Special Envoy for Latin America, Mauricio Claver-Carone. And Special Envoy, the floor is yours.
MR CLAVER-CARONE: Thank you so much and thank you for the opportunity. Obviously, it seems like forever ago that the Secretary on his first trip as Secretary of State went to countries of Central America and, also, the Dominican Republic on that first trip in setting history in that regards. That was just last month.
One of the priorities that he also wanted to do was to go to the Caribbean, the Caribbean many times referred to as our third border. It is indeed our third border, but in some cases, it is actually our first border when you start considering the commercial maritime shipping lanes. Commercially, it's in so many ways our first border. It's the border, obviously, of the Secretary's home state of Florida, but more importantly of the President's home state of Florida and my home state of Florida. So obviously, we're all very familiar with the opportunities and the challenges that that third border, the Caribbean, our neighbors, represent.
I think this trip is symbolic of those opportunities. In the preview with a lot of these Caribbean leaders in regards to the Secretary's trip, I think the focus that the Secretary wanted to hone in on is basically the big opportunity and the challenge, right, and focusing in on one opportunity and one challenge. It's a big opportunity, and again, it's a big challenge.
The big opportunity holistically: energy security. Like, we are in a historic moment in the Caribbean for energy security, which has been the Achilles heel of the Caribbean for so long and its economic development with disproportionately high electricity and energy prices. Obviously, the fact that they are all dependent importers, and supply issues in that regards. That's also led to a long history of extortive practices from PetroCaribe, Venezuela that we've seen historically. All of that has ended and there is a time to turn the page, which is one of the focus on these trips - the historic opportunity for energy security in the Caribbean, which will improve people's lives, will improve also the opportunities and the relationship with the United States and what that means, and obviously, will strengthen our neighbors, which we seek.
The challenge, obviously, is Haiti. And obviously, we all know and we share the deep commitment to tackling this challenge in Haiti. The Secretary is obviously very familiar with the challenges posed there. It's an intricate part of the community that the Secretary comes from, and obviously something we've been dealing with for a long time; and look to work with our Caribbean neighbors in handling that particular challenge in this regards.
In so doing, obviously the trip was very thematically put together to be able to address some of these challenges. The first stop, as Tammy mentioned, is obviously going to be Jamaica. Jamaica is probably our most likeminded partner in the Caribbean, also a huge opportunity in regards to not only the commercial shipping lanes that all go through Jamaica, which is obviously key to our security and our maritime security and our commercial shipping lane security, but also as regards narcotics trafficking.
So, obviously, in combatting these transnational criminal organizations is very key in Jamaica, and the partnership with Jamaica there has been extraordinary, but also arms trafficking and arms trafficking to Haiti, which is exacerbated, obviously - which is what feeds the gang violence in Haiti. So, Jamaica is a key partner from a security perspective in regards to dealing with counternarcotics, in regards to dealing with arms trafficking, and in deepening that coordination will help not only improve the security and safety of Americans but also in dealing with this shared challenge that we have in Haiti.
From a commercial side as well, Jamaica being a key partner in so maintaining those maritime routes that come - the routes that come from obviously the Panama Canal but also in the upward flows that come through the region. We want to strengthen that. Obviously, this has been a discussion with Jamaica for a long time. The government, Prime Minister Holness, has been a great ally, has made great strides in dealing with the issues of crime in Jamaica. Obviously, the economic fiscal management of Jamaica has been one of the bright spots not only in the Caribbean but in the entire region in that regards, and helping them deal with that criminality, et cetera, is going to increase as well - the opportunities and the development of perhaps one of our greatest allies in the Caribbean there in Jamaica.
While they're in Jamaica, the Secretary is also going to meet and will also have bilaterals with Haiti obviously to deal with this huge challenge that we all face in dealing with the gang violence. In Haiti, to ensure that the Haitian National Police and the provisional government have the support they need in order to be able to tackle the violence of these gangs, which, at the end of the day, is important for the security not only of the United States but also of the entire Caribbean.
We'll also meet with Barbados. Barbados currently heads CARICOM, so that's - this is where those kind of joint topics and issues of energy security in Haiti is a great opportunity to meet that, even though we're deeply committed to the bilateral relationship with each of these Caribbean nations. There's a dozen and it's a lot of work, but we're deeply committed to the bilateral relationship with each of these islands. But we look forward to with the leadership of Barbados and CARICOM, working on some of these broader, cohesive issues.
And with Trinidad, which has been an energy leader in the region, obviously it is going through its own development as it seeks to revitalize its natural gas opportunities and is going through that modernization as some of the older fields and opportunities there dry up and they're looking for the new ones. There, along with a lot of the challenges posed with Venezuela, we're deeply committed to working with Trinidad to figuring out how to re-energize that - those natural gas opportunities and ensure that its economy continues to move forward despite the challenges presented with Venezuela and otherwise.
From there, the Secretary will go to Guyana. Guyana is poised this year to become the largest per capita oil producer in the world, only - first two - is going to surpass Qatar and Kuwait. This is a huge kind of like a story of the last five years. I mean, it's probably one of the greatest stories of the last five years. It's seen as some of the greatest offshore opportunities in the world. The security of Guyana is a key priority for us in the same way that we have been working with countries in the Gulf states to ensure the security cooperation from the regional threats there, Iran, et cetera, we want to work with Guyana in order to ensure the security cooperation there and its guarantees on its security. We've seen the threats from Venezuela. We've seen the approaches towards Exxon facilities. Obviously, that's unacceptable and we want to work together to ensure binding - and find an agreement towards binding security cooperation.
That's a win-win for both Guyana and the United States, and I think that's going to be a big part of the Secretary's conversations while he's there. The fact that these oil developments and perhaps, as has been described, as the greatest offshore opportunity in the world today, and with an administration that doesn't punish countries for that development. We saw in the previous administration, in the Biden administration, that countries like Guyana were asked to almost halt their development and progress in favor of renewables. No, we want to see Guyana succeed. We want to see it develop. We believe renewables are complementary in that regards and are not a substitute. So, we want to support Guyana in this development but protect it also from the threats being posed.
And from there, he'll make a short stop to Suriname, which is shortly behind Guyana in regards to that huge opportunity in its energy development. Again, together with Guyana and Suriname, which - and obviously the history of Trinidad with natural gas - this is an opportunity that countries from the CARICOM community, from the region are going to be able to - be able to support each other, to be able to create an energy security framework, which has already changed the geopolitics of the region. If we think back to the first Trump Administration, we were dealing with the charges of PetroCaribe, with the challenges of the corruption, the endemic corruption that PetroCaribe and Venezuela were bringing to the islands of the region, the extortion that they were bringing to the region.
The fact that now their own countries - Guyana, Suriname - are able to have and really surpass Venezuela in its oil production and be able to work with its neighbors there in the region is a huge opportunity for the Caribbean, along with natural gas, microgrids, et cetera, to really, really finally try to put an end to that huge Achilles' heel to its economic development and security. That's the goal, that's the priority. And that'll be where a lot of our conversations will be focused, and the Secretary's conversation will be focused during this trip.
MS HOUSTON: Great. Thank you, Special Envoy. Just an excellent outline of the big opportunities but also the challenges that we will be addressing through our diplomatic means during this trip. This gives us a great time now to pause and really think about this chance to speak to our speakers here with questions.
We ask that if you have a question that you raise your hand, using the raise your hand function. Once called upon, unmute yourself to speak clearly. And as a reminder, this is an on-the-record call regarding the Secretary's trip, and we just kindly ask that questions remain related or closely related to the trip itself.
So, at this time, if you are interested in asking a question to our speakers, please do raise your hand. I'm going to call upon the first name I see here and then ask you to name your outlet. Here I see Robles, Frances. Robles, you have the floor. Please unmute yourself.
QUESTION: Hi, how are you? Thanks so much for this meeting. I appreciate it. Mauricio, can you talk a little bit more about whether any of the Caribbean nations have spoken - have offered a formal response to the Cuban doctors situation and whether that's going to be on the agenda?
MR CLAVER-CARONE: I'm sure that's going to be on the agenda. Obviously, they'll raise it holistically. Look, we've been very clear: The United States stands firmly against human trafficking. The Trump Administration and President Trump has been a leader in the fight against human trafficking, whether it's across the border with Mexico and what we saw, obviously, from the previous administration, with 500,000 children and others that were being trafficked across the border, to white-robe human trafficking by the totalitarian regime in Cuba of doctors that essentially are being trafficked across the world.
It's not just the Caribbean. Obviously, the Caribbean has really made this - it's an important issue, because they're present in the Caribbean, it's historic and it's prolonged; but at the end of the day that have been trafficked throughout the world in violation of International Labor Organization accords of treatment, where they have their salaries and their passports hijacked by the Cuban Government during their stay. And this is not an issue about, like, the quality of Cuban doctors. The quality of Cuban doctors and the work they've done in the Caribbean, in Haiti, et cetera, is great; it's extraordinary. And at the end of the day, we have to recognize that, and we want to recognize that.
What we are asking is that they not support human trafficking, that they support - and I know that there's been some efforts, particularly starting with Barbados, in order to directly pay these Cuban doctors so that they are - have a certain amount of freedom of movement and freedom of their professional practice, et cetera. I mean, we understand, obviously, how the Cuban regime works in maintaining control over these individuals. But we want to basically have a united voice against indentured servitude, against human trafficking, in favor of International Labor Organization standards, global standards and international standards for the treatment of workers, regardless of what type they are.
So, we're going to continue to take a strong stand against human trafficking, as we have and President Trump has had across - across the spectrum. In this regards, we feel that Cuban doctors and the trafficking of them falls within that category. And we look forward to working with mechanisms with our Caribbean neighbors to ensure that they're able to hire directly the doctors, that they feel like doing so on their free will and with their free movement, and their freedom of practice and expression in that regards. And that's an important conversation that will be had and has begun and surely will be raised for the Secretary.
MS HOUSTON: Thank you. Next we'll call on Jacqueline Charles from the Miami Herald. Jackie, we'll turn it over to you at this time.
QUESTION: Thank you, Mauricio. Along the same lines as Frances's question, I mean, in addition to Cuban doctors, Caribbean leaders are also concerned about travel - possible travel restrictions related to the citizenship by investment. On Friday, they also had an emergency meeting about these proposed tariffs on Chinese-linked vessels that they say will increase inflation in the region. So, I'm wondering along that line, do you all have anything specific that you are going to be offering to them?
And then on - specifically on Haiti, Port-au-Prince right now is on the verge of collapse. The gangs were - Thomassin 45 - within reach, just minutes from Pétion-Ville. Is there a specific plan or a conversation you all are planning to have to stop this - that you think could help in stopping this onslaught?
MR CLAVER-CARONE: Yeah, let me just - three points there. So in regards to Cuban doctors in the Caribbean, like I've also previewed and asked and believe and I've told Caribbean leaders, that it would be a huge missed opportunity - missed opportunity - that with the prevalence, the importance, the pre-eminence that the Secretary of State and the President are giving to the Caribbean, to this third border, to be - to literally waste the entire conversation and waste that attention on a discussion of Cuban doctors, which is something we should all agree to what we agree and don't agree on. Right? None of us support human trafficking. We all support labor standards, et cetera. Like, that issue - if this - if they choose to overshadow this trip with the issue of Cuban doctors, it'll be a lost opportunity. Because again, the huge opportunity here is energy security, economic development - that has plagued this region - and the biggest challenge that we have is Haiti. And so that's a great segue over to Haiti.
Yeah, the circumstance is dire. We are developing a strategy in order to be able to continue to support the Haitian National Police in order to deal with this. The Secretary is obviously very well aware. It is a strategy in development. It'll be - I think this trip is also geared to hearing the views of our - of the - of our neighbors and our allies in the Caribbean in order to see what they believe is possible and how they can chip in and how they could work with us in this regards. And I think that this trip is going to add in the urgency of the moment and in the urgency of the situation to the development and implementation of a very targeted strategy in regards to Haiti to try to ensure that these gangs do not take over, obviously, Port-au-Prince but that then expand beyond that. That is something that we keep our eye on every day, that we're very focused on, and that the Secretary will definitely be looking to see what opportunities and see what - obviously, speaking obviously to the Haitians themselves and the provisional government themselves, but also to others in the region, and so how we can work together in this pressing challenge.
You mentioned also the citizenship by investment. That's been a longstanding concern we have seen, obviously, in some of these islands in the Caribbean a lot of movement from not only Chinese nationals but Iranian nationals and other countries that affect not only the national security of the United States but, frankly, that affect the security of these islands. That'll be also an issue for conversation. We want to make sure - like, our goal here is not to impede the development of these islands. Like, we want these islands to be able to have the opportunities. Again, when you talk about inflationary pressures, the biggest inflationary pressure in the Caribbean is energy, energy costs. So that's why we're holistically focused on electricity, on energy costs, on energy security, in order to be able to spread it. Because that then spills over into tourism, into tourism development, et cetera.
So where we want to be is in a place where some of these islands don't find these citizenship-by-investment programs which attract, unfortunately, nefarious actors from China, Iran, and other countries into the Americas, which then becomes a security challenge for all of us - that we don't want that to become - CBI should not be a major part of these smaller islands' GDP. That's not the goal. And I think that if we work towards increasing the space and reducing some of the pressures to increase their tourism development and other factors through energy - increase energy supply, increase energy distribution, lower electricity prices, I think at the end of the day all of those are pluses there for these countries not to have to rely on these CBI programs.
MS HOUSTON: Great. Thank you. Next, we'll call on Miguel Cossio. Miguel, if you can unmute yourself, the floor is yours.
QUESTION: Hi. Hi, Mauricio. How are you? Regarding the yesterday announcement about the oil in Venezuela, any nation that allows its company to produce, extract, or export oil from Venezuela will be subjected to new tariff, and those companies will be subject to sanctions. Have you had already any response about this from Caribbean countries that buy oil from Venezuela, number one?
Number two, in Spanish. (In Spanish.)
MR CLAVER-CARONE: So, let me just - so in regards to Venezuelan oil purchases, let me just kind of stick to what the point of this trip and of this conversation is. Obviously, with Guyana we have a great opportunity and where we're going to be focused is on the security cooperation and how we can flesh out a greater security cooperation agreement with Guyana - almost akin to what we're working on with some of the Gulf states. In that regards, I think there's a great opportunity for Guyana's development and for the security of Guyana, particularly vis-à-vis the threats imposed by Venezuela.
I think in regards to Venezuelan exports to islands in the Caribbean, really since the PetroCaribe kind of scheme was kind of, like, dismantled on its own to a degree and obviously pushed over, particularly after President Trump's 2019 maximum pressure policy, I think we've seen that really, truly diminish. Now, what we still do see is 45,000 barrels or so per day moving towards Cuba, but that's at no cost and no income to the regime, to Venezuela. That obviously costs them money. That's a whole different conversation there.
What we seek, frankly - and I think that we have a great opportunity here - is, in regards to energy security and why the Secretary's focused on his - this trip to Guyana and Suriname, is really, like, these countries aren't going to be dependent anymore. It's really for the - for these countries in the Caribbean to not have to be dependent on the Venezuelan oil and then the schemes and extortion that came from that, from PetroCaribe, et cetera, in the past. To be able to have Caribbean countries, their own CARICOM brethren, right, to be able to help create that energy security that those oil - those needs were seen by other countries outside, including the Dominican Republic, also looking to create deals with Guyana in regards to the refining, et cetera, of oil for their energy needs, which has also been an Achilles for the Dominican Republic.
So, this is really, truly a unique historic opportunity for energy security in the Caribbean. We're deeply committed to that. The fact that these CARICOM nations, that Guyana and Suriname, and then obviously on the natural gas front kind of in the revitalization of however we can help in Trinidad in that regards, are really unique opportunities there. And that's what we really need to be focused on, because we don't want to have a rekindling of the past and of all the troubles and issues that the dependency on Venezuela brought to the islands of the Caribbean.
MS HOUSTON: Great, fantastic.
MR CLAVER-CARONE: Actually, I'm sorry; let me add one more thing. Just think about also how the world has changed in such a short period of time. I mean, the fact that today we're sitting here talking about is - the first Trump Administration, I recall that one of the challenges that we always had was what really dominated the conversation with the Caribbean was Venezuela, and in that regards because of the extortion that the Venezuelan regime had over these islands in the Caribbean.
The fact that today, in regard - in these encroachments by Venezuela and the Venezuelan Government on the sovereignty and the territorial sovereignty of Guyana, the fact that the Caribbean stands in one voice with its Caribbean partner, with its Caribbean - fellow Caribbean nation in Guyana in this regard against those threats from Venezuela, like, that's pretty extraordinary. The world has changed quite a bit in that regards, and that's a great opportunity, and obviously we want to make sure that Guyana has the security necessary to be able to continue its historic path in the development of its energy industry so that we can also help its Caribbean partners be able to also benefit from that.
MS HOUSTON: Great, fantastic, Mauricio, and to Spokesperson Bruce. We're actually really coming to the end of our Q&A session. It has been a fantastic conversation, and we really appreciate everyone's interest in the trip. I know we will hear more from the Secretary and those traveling. Wonderful to have you all on. Thank you again to our panelists, looking forward to a great trip. Please do on behalf of the State Department remember that this is an on-the-record call. Information may be attributed to the speakers by name and title. At this point, this concludes our on-the-record call, the embargo is lifted, and we look forward to remaining in touch in the coming days. Thank you very much.
