Former PM questions Venezuela’s loan arrangement with A&B

ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Former Prime Minister Lester Bird labelled the recently deceased Venezuelan president a “despot” and questioned the inner workings of Venezuela’s $200 million loan to the nation.
In an interview played on the Big Issues yesterday, Lester Bird said Hugo Chavez did not carry out “normal processes” of loaning money to Antigua & Barbuda through PetroCaribe and the Bolivarian Alternative of the Americas (ALBA).
“He helped the Baldwin Spencer administration quite a bit, even giving them monies without any sort of collateral … agreement, that is most unusual,” Bird said.