Category: Latin America

BOGOTÁ, Colombia — A White House official said Tuesday that Venezuela was not a threat to the national security of the United States, backing off language in an executive order that had inflamed relations with the South American nation and drawn criticism from other countries in the region. The comments came as President Obama prepared to leave for a trip to the Caribbean and Latin America that will include a meeting of heads of state from the hemisphere. “The United States does not believe that Venezuela poses some threat to our national security,” said Benjamin J. Rhodes, deputy national security adviser for strategic communications, during a telephone call with reporters to discuss the president’s trip. He was referring to an executive order signed by Mr. Obama last month that called for economic sanctions against seven Venezuelan officials who the United States said were involved in human rights abuses or […]

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Venezuela’s parliament granted President  Nicolas Maduro  decree powers on Sunday for the rest of 2015 in a move he says is to defend the country from U.S. meddling but opponents decry as evidence of autocracy. In a noisy National Assembly session, ruling Socialist Party legislators, who have a majority, applauded the "Enabling Law" as a legitimate response to a U.S. declaration that Venezuela is a security threat and sanctions on seven officials. "They (the United States) want to stick their hands into Venezuela’s wealth, just as they have done in other countries," ruling party legislator Tania Diaz said, presenting the "anti-imperialist" Enabling Law to parliament. Outside, red-clad Maduro supporters chanted and held placards proclaiming, "Yankees go home." Opposition lawmakers said Maduro was cynically exploiting the diplomatic flare-up with Washington to amass powers, justify repression and distract Venezuelans from economic problems including acute shortages. On March 9, President Barack Obama issued an executive order declaring Venezuela a national security threat, sanctioning the […]

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CARACAS/HOUSTON (Reuters) – A subtle change in office attire may be the most telling symbol of a quiet revolution taking place inside Venezuela’s troubled economic engine, giant oil firm PDVSA. For years, PDVSA employees were encouraged to wear red shirts in support of late President Hugo Chavez’s socialist movement. Rafael Ramirez, the former oil czar famously vowed the state-owned firm would be "redder than red" and sent workers to state rallies. Over the past few months, however, the company’s new management – led by president Eulogio del Pino, a low-profile Stanford-educated engineer – has eased up on revolutionary garb and attendance at militant gatherings, according to sources within and outside the company. New posters inside its Caracas headquarters request employees don normal office wear, visitors say, a telltale sign of what could be the most sweeping changes in over a decade at a firm that controls the world’s largest […]

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HOUSTON Mar 12 (Reuters) – Shrinking crude exports from Venezuela to its neighbors has allowed African oil producers to gain a foothold among Latin American buyers, according to traders and data, and sales to one of the world’s few regions with strong demand will keep growing. Only months ago, African producers were scrambling to find new clients in the Western Hemisphere, having largely been pushed out of the U.S. market by the onshore shale oil revolution. African exports are also growing as Mexico and Brazil lack spare capacity to increase sales to neighbors. U.S. companies, which dominate refined products trade in the Americas, cannot export crude because of a decades-old ban imposed by Washington. Africa sent at least 8 million barrels to South America in the first two months of this year, double the amount in the year-ago period, according to Reuters Dirty Tanker Fixtures data. While African crude […]

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