The debt situation is coming to a head in Venezuela. The Venezuelan economy has been in shambles for years, plumbing new depths when it seems that things cannot get any worse. All the while the Venezuelan government prioritized debt payments, even as people go hungry in the streets. But Caracas is running out of time and money. On Thursday, President Nicolas Maduro went on state TV and said that he would seek a restructuring of Venezuela’s debt. But he sowed some confusion by using different words for what he was seeking. As Bloomberg reported on Friday, he switched between “refinancing,” a more benign form of negotiation with bondholders, and a “restructuring,” a more technical term that tends to be associated with a default and stiffing creditors. Venezuela and PDVSA owed a $1.1 billion payment on November 2, and Maduro promised to meet that obligation. However, he said it would […]