Venezuela troubles (currency, economy and potential FAFO)

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Evil oil!

Apparently, Venezuela didn't get the memo?
 
"The leaders of Guyana and Venezuela promised in a tense meeting that neither side would use threats or force against the other."
And just like that, the threat of war is over.
Everyone knows government promises are good as gold.
 

Venezuela agrees to extradite Fat Leonard, key figure in massive military bribery scandal​

Venezuela has agreed to extradite Leonard Francis, also known as “Fat Leonard,” the mastermind of one of the largest American military bribery scandals, as part of a prisoner swap deal reached with the U.S., according to the Biden administration.

A senior Biden administration official said Francis is expected to be on a plane later Wednesday and headed back to the U.S., where he will be detained in a federal prison facility.

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Too much corruption in Venezuela for a state owned/managed commodity backed crypto to be trusted. I hope that Zimbabwe's experiment with their gold backed token doesn't suffer the same fate.
 
Venezuela’s vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, has been in London, urging the new head of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to help out and get the South American nation’s tanker fleet back up and running.

US sanctions on Venezuelan shipping vessels are harming the country’s maritime transport, Rodriguez told Arsenio Dominguez, who has been in the IMO hot seat since January 1, during a meeting yesterday.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/com...gainst-venezuela-in-citgo-auction/ar-BB1gYvsL

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If Maduro takes too many punches on the chin, he just might end up invading Guyana...
 

Why Venezuela wants to annex Guyana​

Jan 26, 2024

South America is teetering on the edge of an armed conflict. #Venezuela argues that the #Esequibo region of #Guyana was unlawfully taken when the border was established over a century ago.

15:43
 

 
"Venezuela arrested three aides to opposition candidate María Corina Machado as the government increases pressure on its critics ahead of presidential elections."

Delete the name of the country "Venezuela" and the name of the candidate "María Corina Machado".
Now read the sentence again.

"____________ arrested three aides to opposition candidate ___________ as the government increases pressure on its critics ahead of presidential elections."

Would you have filled in the blanks with "Venezuela" and "María Corina Machado"?

Or would your thoughts have brought you a little closer to home?

This is the kind of crap that happens in third world countries.

The U.S. is quickly devolving
 

Venezuela Activates Plan to Neutralize Coup Attempts​

President Maduro urged citizens to be alert to conspiratorial plans involving the far-right opposition.


On Tuesday, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro called for the activation of the "Bolivarian Fury," a plan to neutralize coup attempts and defend peace.

Addressing thousands of citizens participating in the march commemorating the 66th anniversary of the fall of the Marcos Perez Jimenez dictatorship on January 23, 1958, he assured that he would continue to govern the country with the support of the people.

"Nothing will stop me. I will continue in the streets and in the battle. I will continue to protect you, and... I will continue to govern this country with the support of the people," Maduro said, reiterating that the Chavista people will triumph again in the 2024 presidential elections.

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I guess Maduro is getting desperate?
 
I wonder how many billion of our tax dollars are gonna find their way to Guyana.

Like the old saying - a billion here a billion there and pretty soon you're talking real money
 
I wonder how many billion of our tax dollars are gonna find their way to Guyana.

Like the old saying - a billion here a billion there and pretty soon you're talking real money
No matter how much we're talking - dollars are not real money.

Electronic notations, created off debt ledgers, are not real money. And they cost nothing to create...so quadrillions do not matter. MOAR WAR!
 

Venezuela Accuses Guyana of Giving Out Illegal Oil Licenses​

Venezuela has accused neighboring Guyana of issuing illegal exploration licenses to oil companies for the Essequibo region which is under dispute between the two countries.

According to Caracas, Georgetown had been issuing “illegal oil concessions ... in a maritime area that is indisputably Venezuelan.”

At the end of last week, Caracas made news when it ordered troops to the border with Guyana, which sounded the alarm on the buildup. Venezuela did not deny it but said it had the right to shore up its borders in response to U.S. military exercises in Guyana toward the end of the year and the presence of a UK anti-narcotics vessel that is in Guyanese waters.

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So this has the potential to blow up before the US election. Maduro is playing with fire here IMO.
 
Venezuela is going BRICS with Brazil.
 
Perhaps, but there is a process and it takes time. Venezuela is not likely to become a member in 2024. Maybe in 2025.
 

Exclusive: Weak bids in Citgo auction spurs Venezuela to pitch alternative pay plan​

HOUSTON/MIAMI, March 14 (Reuters) - The highest bid received in a U.S. auction of shares that will decide the fate of Venezuela-owned oil refiner Citgo Petroleum was $7.3 billion, enough to cover only a third of court-approved claims, two people familiar with the matter said.

A federal court in Delaware is auctioning the shares of a parent of Venezuela's foreign crown jewel, Houston-based Citgo, that it found liable for the South American country's debt defaults and expropriations. Creditors have flocked to Delaware to press claims totaling $21.3 billion in a case first brought nearly seven years ago by miner Crystallex.

Results from the first bidding round in January, however, show a sales process that is unlikely to provide a satisfactory outcome for creditors or Citgo's current owners. Offers received thus far in a case that broke new legal ground in sovereign immunity would leave many claims unpaid, analysts and sources warned.

The court may have to revamp the sales process, or consider an alternative being drafted by Venezuela, which would offer creditors a larger payout with proceeds spread over several years, while retaining some of Venezuela's stake in the company, the people said.

Judge Leonard Stark, who is overseeing the case, has declined to consider Venezuela's payment proposals, the people said. It is unclear if he would reconsider with the highest offer in the initial bidding round covering only 14 of the 26 claims that he has accepted from 18 creditors.

The weak initial bids were below the $13 billion to $14 billion value specialists appointed by the court had estimated for the shares. That shortfall is prompting Citgo's parent companies and boards to reprise an offer presented earlier this year: a $10 billion payment funded over time from Citgo profits, equity and borrowings.

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FWIW (dyodd)

Venezuela's Maduro accuses US of building 'secret' bases in disputed region Essequibo​

"We have information proving that in the territory of Guyana Essequibo, temporarily administered by Guyana, secret military bases of the (US) Southern Command... a body of the CIA, have been installed," Maduro said.

He said the bases are an "aggression" against the people of southern and eastern Venezuela and were built "to prepare for an escalation against Venezuela."

Maduro's provocative remarks came as parliament held a ceremony commemorating a recent law laying out the defense of Guyana Essequibo, four months after a controversial, non-binding referendum overwhelmingly approved the creation of a Venezuelan province in the disputed region, sparking fears of a military conflict.

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It wouldn't surprise me if he's correct. The USA is going to help secure the region one way or another I expect.
 
All part of an unfolding collapse - as the Deep State actors try everything in their evil book, to go back to what they think are the Good Old Days.

It will just add a wellhead of resentment to a situation loaded with chaos and lawlessness domestically. Nation-state actors who would otherwise just ignore our problems, will be motivated to kick the Untied Skates while it's down.
 
It wouldn't surprise me if he's correct. The USA is going to help secure the region one way or another I expect.
They want to keep the chinese out.
 

 
South America would be a great place to slow travel across except for the corruption. Colombia has a shot at decent living standards for its citizens and then Brazil.Uraguay and Paraguay are next. Argentina is trying to change the systemic total effedupness in its fiscal policies, but will take a few years.
 
The Atlantic opinion piece.

Is Venezuela Serious About Invading Guyana?​

President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela is an exuberant dictator, a lover of military salutes who is being investigated for crimes against humanity, but he’s not reckless enough to invade neighboring Guyana, is he? Would the leader of a country in an ever-deepening economic crisis risk starting Latin America’s first interstate war this century? Well, maybe.

For a century and a half, Guyana and Venezuela have quarreled over Essequibo, a stretch of the Amazon that both countries claim. Guyana has long governed the territory, but Venezuela also claims sovereignty over it, citing maps drawn in colonial times. Last year, Maduro expressed a sudden enthusiasm for seizing Essequibo that took many Venezuelans by surprise. International conglomerates had discovered lots of oil there, but that was in 2015, and in any case, Venezuela, too, has plenty of oil.

Whatever the reason, the slogan “Essequibo is ours” began appearing all over Venezuela—on posters and bumper stickers, as well as on promotional materials for a state-sponsored music festival in Caracas called Essequibo Fest. The ministry of ecosocialism produced a song with the slogan as its title. Then, in December, Venezuelans were called to vote in a referendum. Did they agree to establish a Venezuelan state in Essequibo and extend Venezuelan citizenship to the territory’s residents? Yes, 90 percent of Venezuelans answered, according to state media. Yes, we do.
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When a nation is on the verge of collapse...the thoughts always turn to WAR.

Consider who's running that excrement exposition. Calling Maduro a "midwit" is paying him an undeserved flattery. So...yes, they're gonna go to war.
 
I wonder how many Cuban and Chinese advisors are mixed in with them?
 

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Venezuelan government to investigate alleged destabilization plan involving opposition, Colombian paramilitary​


Venezuela's Attorney General, Tarek William Saab, has announced an investigation into "new assassination threats" against President Nicolás Maduro.

The probe was prompted by a video released on X (formerly Twitter) by the Colombian paramilitary group Autodefensas Conquistadores de la Sierra Nevada (ACSN), claiming that they were contacted by Venezuelan far-right groups to "destabilize" the government.

The ACSN video alleges that these Venezuelan groups requested actions such as targeting the country's electrical infrastructure, acting against President Maduro, and creating chaos during potential protests. The paramilitary organization emphasized that it does not interfere in other countries' internal affairs and intends to share details of the information with Venezuelan diplomatic authorities.

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