Thursday, December 5, 2019
Saturday, July 20, 2019
Friday, May 10, 2019
Part of my exchange with readers of Caracas Chronicles who support the fake Juan Guaido "presidency" in Venezuela.
I am painfully aware of how untenable for around 80% of the people the situation in Venezuela is. I also am aware that the slide began in late 2012 or 2013 which predates sanctions but really does not predate what could be called the Economic War. Of course in my mind I hold the government and the whole political class in Venezuela responsible for corruption and not seriously combating it and various other wrong headed policies but all of this is against the backdrop of dependency on selling petroleum and natural gas to the United States.
Apparently Hugo Chavez, Rafael Ramirez and whoever else was in on decisions about PDVSA back then bought in on the theory of "Peak Oil" which was all the rage among some left-wing circles and environmentalists.
This must have been the reason why they decided to emphasize development of the most expensive to exploit oil fields to the relative neglect of the least expensive in an around Lake Maracaibo Zulia. Also they didn't seem to notice or they were not getting reports from consulates in the United States on efforts to cut dependency on imported petroleum products. The financial crisis that broke in 2008 was a setback as was the collapse of oil prices around the time of the murder of Hugo Chavez. These activities in the United States were in part Economic Warfare against Venezuela, Iran, Russia and the Gulf States and they were framed as such.
Also the fact that the United States backed the coup of 2002 and the oil strike that followed would be a signal to potential investors that limited Venezuela's opportunities.
I read in Aporrea some time ago as per Elias Jaua that early in his presidency Chavez and his advisors decided not to frontally attack the AD/Copei cadres, with their notorious corruption nested in state/government management positions. And so these enemies and their invidious culture thrived.
So by overestimating the future of oil prices instead of building up a Sovereign Fund such as Norway and Saudi Arabia have they built up foreign debt.
Then there is this drum I never get tired of banging on:
https://m.aporrea.org/contraloria/n257348.html
Giving away cheap dollars to the point where the country was seriously held back, with no apparent audit and control to ensure those dollars were spent according to State policy which was to make available low-cost food , medicine and inputs necessary for agriculture and industry Imo was a terrible move that I hesitate to characterize. Recent prosecution in Florida of individuals who became obscenely rich due to connections with Hugo Chavez point in my opinion to poor judgement in selecting friends and appointees.
None of this could ever or possibly justify attacking Venezuela's electrical infrastructure which is a crime against humanity and which none of you have denied.
Caracas Chronicles and Quico Toro never have responded to my previous comments on their website regarding the study by Marea Socialista. This points to a certain guilty knowledge.
Again it's just my opinion but I think Marea Socialista's proposals regarding auditing the dollar exchange system and the foreign debt to be followed up by efforts to recuperate stolen monies was right on the nose but it gets short shrift everywhere.
At this point we may be talking about half trillion dollars or more!
This is the kind of money that could change a bunch of lives don't you think so? And it is stashed in the United States, Cayman Islands, Panama, and other places that serve as tax avoidance havens. Legal efforts to recuperate this gigantic sum should be undertaken don't you think so?( no matter who's in charge.) Even to recuperate 10% of it would mean 50 billion dollars that don't have to be repaid with interest. I can't understand for the life of me why this is not a priority.
#sanctionskill an estimated 40,000 of your compatriots. For the love of God! ENOUGH!
I am painfully aware of how untenable for around 80% of the people the situation in Venezuela is. I also am aware that the slide began in late 2012 or 2013 which predates sanctions but really does not predate what could be called the Economic War. Of course in my mind I hold the government and the whole political class in Venezuela responsible for corruption and not seriously combating it and various other wrong headed policies but all of this is against the backdrop of dependency on selling petroleum and natural gas to the United States.
Apparently Hugo Chavez, Rafael Ramirez and whoever else was in on decisions about PDVSA back then bought in on the theory of "Peak Oil" which was all the rage among some left-wing circles and environmentalists.
This must have been the reason why they decided to emphasize development of the most expensive to exploit oil fields to the relative neglect of the least expensive in an around Lake Maracaibo Zulia. Also they didn't seem to notice or they were not getting reports from consulates in the United States on efforts to cut dependency on imported petroleum products. The financial crisis that broke in 2008 was a setback as was the collapse of oil prices around the time of the murder of Hugo Chavez. These activities in the United States were in part Economic Warfare against Venezuela, Iran, Russia and the Gulf States and they were framed as such.
Also the fact that the United States backed the coup of 2002 and the oil strike that followed would be a signal to potential investors that limited Venezuela's opportunities.
I read in Aporrea some time ago as per Elias Jaua that early in his presidency Chavez and his advisors decided not to frontally attack the AD/Copei cadres, with their notorious corruption nested in state/government management positions. And so these enemies and their invidious culture thrived.
So by overestimating the future of oil prices instead of building up a Sovereign Fund such as Norway and Saudi Arabia have they built up foreign debt.
Then there is this drum I never get tired of banging on:
https://m.aporrea.org/contraloria/n257348.html
Giving away cheap dollars to the point where the country was seriously held back, with no apparent audit and control to ensure those dollars were spent according to State policy which was to make available low-cost food , medicine and inputs necessary for agriculture and industry Imo was a terrible move that I hesitate to characterize. Recent prosecution in Florida of individuals who became obscenely rich due to connections with Hugo Chavez point in my opinion to poor judgement in selecting friends and appointees.
None of this could ever or possibly justify attacking Venezuela's electrical infrastructure which is a crime against humanity and which none of you have denied.
Caracas Chronicles and Quico Toro never have responded to my previous comments on their website regarding the study by Marea Socialista. This points to a certain guilty knowledge.
Again it's just my opinion but I think Marea Socialista's proposals regarding auditing the dollar exchange system and the foreign debt to be followed up by efforts to recuperate stolen monies was right on the nose but it gets short shrift everywhere.
At this point we may be talking about half trillion dollars or more!
This is the kind of money that could change a bunch of lives don't you think so? And it is stashed in the United States, Cayman Islands, Panama, and other places that serve as tax avoidance havens. Legal efforts to recuperate this gigantic sum should be undertaken don't you think so?( no matter who's in charge.) Even to recuperate 10% of it would mean 50 billion dollars that don't have to be repaid with interest. I can't understand for the life of me why this is not a priority.
#sanctionskill an estimated 40,000 of your compatriots. For the love of God! ENOUGH!
Monday, January 28, 2019
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