KINGSTON, Jamaica – Amid the food, electricity and economic crisis in his country, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro arrived in Jamaica for what the government says was a one-day “working visit”, ahead of his trip to another Caribbean country where a demonstration was planned.

A Jamaica government statement said Maduro, who was met on arrival at Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston by Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator Kamina Johnson Smith, and other dignitaries,  met with Prime Minister Andrew Holness and members of Cabinet.

Senator Johnson Smith called the visit important and that she is expected the bilateral meeting between the two leaders to be fruitful.

Maduro last visited Jamaica last September for the Summit to Commemorate the 10th Anniversary of the PetroCaribe Agreement, the 200th Anniversary of the Jamaica Letter, written by the Great Liberator Simon Bolivar in Kingston on Sept. 6, 1815, and for the inauguration of the Simon Bolivar Cultural Centre in downtown Kingston.

He left the island for Trinidad and Tobago.

The Newsday newspaper in the twin-island republic said Venezuelans living there planned to protest his visit.

It quoted the organizer of the protest, Yesenia Gonzalez, as saying that up to 50 protestors will beat pots and pans outside the Diplomatic Centre during Maduro’s visit.