So we will just attempt to get through it and I will attempt to monitor it. All eyes are on Venezuela right now, and Venezuela's influence on the Caribbean countries from energy to trade and other things are extremely worrying, especially Eastern Caribbean countries. So, I guess the question that I have is, all six nations of the Company of Eastern Caribbean States are members of the Bolivarian Alliance referred to as ALBA, that includes efforts to promote regional cooperation and relieve hardship; so to what extent have ALBA and Petrocaribe increased Venezuela's influence in the Caribbean? I believe I can answer that question greatly.
Mr. Farnsworth. Mr. Chairman, thank you. And I agree it is the pregnant concern if you will of the area. Venezuela is a country that remains in collapse. Financially, some are stating it is no longer a democracy. It is a country that has serious and long lasting internal problems which it is going to take years to get beyond. Therefore, the relationship that Venezuela has established with a variety of countries of the Caribbean in great times has ended up being stretched, because the largesse that Venezuela has been able to honestly hand out or to supply a concessionary on concessionary terms has been much constrained in the present environment.
I guess what I would say remains in the existing environment, due to the fact that of the troubles that Venezuela is having and frankly due to the fact that of the opportunities that we have in the United States through the entire transformation of energy that we have actually seen in our own country over the last numerous years, we have a chance to come into the Caribbean as a partner and state, look, you understand the programs and the activities that you may have been doing with Venezuela are no longer relevant and we can provide the exact same things that you need without the political or without the ideological overhang that you may have had previously - Why are you interested in finance.
Duncan. Let me ask you something about that. Is there enough trust of the United States for us to enter that void with those nations? I don't understand the response to that. Mr. Farnsworth. Well, I think in the present environment we need to do some foundation. We require to do some spade work. I indicate, look, Petrocaribe was Homepage an extremely effective program and we understand why. I imply, it was timely, it supplied something that the leaders needed when they required it. It was symbolic. It was extremely, very easy to discuss to individuals. I indicate, we are getting oil from Venezuela.
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It was on one problem. And I think in some cases, when the United States engages with the nations of the Caribbean, we have a lot of well suggesting programs and wonderful ideas, however they are watered down, right? Not deluded, read more however watered down in regards to the effort and the focus. Under Petrocaribe, it was one product easily described, extremely symbolic, and individuals stated Venezuela's our friend - What was the reconstruction finance corporation. And I believe what we need to do much better from the United States' viewpoint is to build that level of trust through a continuous sustained engagement with the region so that individuals can state, look, we do trust you. Accounting vs finance which is harder.
Mr. Duncan. I personally believe energy is a great chance for us, no doubt about that. Let me look into money laundering and terrorism financing a little bit. There is a huge push by the U.S. to have U.S. banks sever relationship with Caribbean-based banking organizations. Does that policy work to decrease cash laundering and chances for terrorist companies to access the financial system? And that is most likely to Sally. Ms. Yearwood. In a lot of methods it does the opposite, because when U.S. banks vacate the region what you have created in fact is a space and that ends up being filled by other organizations.
So, what is being produced is a circumstance where there is more opportunity for terrorist financing or something to go wrong and someone to exploit that space. So I would state that the U.S. banks absolutely require to be a key and vital player in the local money system. Mr. Duncan. I am probably less worried, and possibly I shouldn't be, however less concerned about terrorism funding through the Caribbean banks as I am about cash laundering. What does ach stand for in finance. We just saw in Panama, a huge $800 million money laundering scheme, property participation, big variety of staff members associated with a legitimate organization-- still a cash laundering plan.
Ms. Yearwood. Part of the problem is the perception of risk versus the truth of the threat. Banks are not leaving the Caribbean due to the fact that there is money laundering. Banks are leaving the Caribbean due to the fact that the costs of compliance are extremely stacked versus the banking system. You have small jurisdictions and for each account that you are dealing with you need to put a huge quantity of money into ensuring that the cost of-- that the companies is clean. But what we need to carry out in impact is develop a system where the regulators, the banks, everybody is interacting, info is being shared, and when information is passed in between the regulators and the Treasury or the regulators and the banks, people know where the voids are.
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And the problem in the Caribbean is that the economies are small, putting these systems in place costs a lot, but all the Caribbean will inform you that they fulfill the compliance regulations. And so there is a detach between what is actually occurring and what individuals are saying is happening. I believe among the typical grievances is the breakdown in between what is going on in overseas monetary services and what is going on in banking. And the Panama Papers were very largely connected to the offshore financial services industry versus the reporter banking and de-risking problem that is presently being dealt with.
Mr. Duncan. I am presuming that the Federal Federal government is monitoring-- in Panama Papers a person is never linked because and start moving funds around, in potentially, the Caribbean country. I am presuming our Treasury and FBI are keeping an eye on that, I would assume. So I am going vacation ownership interest to go ahead and yield to the ranking member. Mr. Sires. Among the reasons that I supported, or I still support the export of energy from this country is to balance out the impact of Venezuela because basically they were using it for political function. You understand, if you take a look at the votes they took at the U.N.
So now Venezuela remains in problem. I think their production is something like 40, half less, and there is a void there that we can assist fill and, you understand, we can truly assist in terms of just having a bit more influence on individuals. The other thing that frets me is that on the eastern part of the Caribbean. Generally, we have an Embassy in Barbados and it serves all those islands there. Meanwhile, you have Venezuela, Cuba, Brazil, they all have an existence there. So I was simply wondering how much of a competitive drawback this puts us when we don't have, really, a presence in the Eastern Caribbean.