The Barrow Administration has come under heavy and sustained criticism for corruption in the ranks of its ministers, but no one can argue that right now the Government is spending major money on infrastructure. And most of that is coming from the Venezuelan fund. Through the Petrocaribe initiative, governments all across the Caribbean buy fuel on credit from Venezuela, paying half, and taking the other half as a long term, low-interest loan. Presently, no official figure has been published, but conservative estimates say that the government of Belize has more than 50 million US dollars in its Venezuelan fund - and every time there is a shipment of oil coming into the country, that figure goes up.
And that's why what's happening right now in Venezuela is worth watching closely. Hugo Chavez's successor, President Nicolas Maduro is facing a fierce round of anti-government protests. In three weeks of sustained protest, five are dead, dozens injured and the opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez was arrested on Tuesday.
At 56% Venezuela has the highest inflation rate in the hemisphere and its murder rate is the highest in the world.
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