Category: Venezuela

CARACAS, Venezuela — Mary Noriega heard there would be chicken. She hated being herded “like cattle,” she said, standing for hours in a line of more than 1,500 people hoping to buy food, as soldiers with side arms checked identification cards to make sure no one tried to buy basic items more than once or twice a week. But Ms. Noriega, a laboratory assistant with three children, said she had no choice, ticking off the inventory in her depleted refrigerator: coffee and corn flour. Things had gotten so bad, she said, that she had begun bartering with neighbors to put food on the table. “We always knew that this year would start badly, but I think this is super bad,” Ms. Noriega said. Venezuelans have put up with shortages and long lines for years. But as the price of oil, the country’s main export, has plunged, the situation has […]

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0 Like Share 0 CARACAS  – Demonstrators against Venezuela’s economic crisis — facing sky-high inflation and shortages of food and consumer goods — took to the streets in their thousands Saturday, banging pots and demanding an end to President Nicolas Maduro’s term. Opposition leaders, fed up with shortages of milk, coffee, sugar, meat, toilet paper, diapers, deodorant and corn meal, and with Maduro’s refusal to overhaul the increasingly state-managed economy, say the elected socialist should go. Ex-lawmaker Maria Corina Machado — who was jailed after deadly riots last year for inciting violence — said Maduro “must step aside now, so the Venezuelan people can stand united again. ” “The government needs to be changed urgently,” Machado argued, at what opposition activists called the “March of Empty Pots. ” She insisted that constitutional order — waiting for Maduro to be voted out — “cannot wait,” even as some marchers chanted, […]

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Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro told lawmakers last week he’s considering raising gasoline prices. That might be a good idea. It’s been two decades since the government last lifted state-set local prices, the result of politicians’ concern that the move could spark protests like those that swept across the oil-rich nation following an increase in 1989. In the interim, a string of currency devaluations has pushed down the cost in dollar terms to levels that would seem implausible to consumers in other parts of the world, even after the recent oil tumble cut prices at the pump. The CHART OF THE DAY shows it now costs about 0.2 U.S. cent (that’s right; one-fifth of a penny) to buy a gallon of gasoline in Venezuela , based on black-market currency rates. Expressed another way, you can get 482 gallons with just one dollar. That’s enough to drive a Chevrolet Silverado pickup […]

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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro faces uphill economic battle as low oil prices take their toll. (UPI Photo/Mohammad Kheirkhah) WASHINGTON, Jan. 22 (UPI) — Venezuela’s economy will decline more than any other in the region as a result of the drop in oil prices, analysis from the International Monetary Fund found. The Central Bank of Venezuela in December said the collapse in oil prices was in part to blame for a 2.3 percent drop in third quarter gross domestic product. That marked three straight quarters of decline for the member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and a formal slip into recession . Oil prices have dropped more than half since June and are down 20 percent since the Central Bank’s announcement. Alejandro Werner, director of the IMF’s Western Hemisphere division, said declining oil prices means a sharp economic downturn for Caracas. "Venezuela’s economy will take the largest hit […]

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The U.S. wants to use shale oil as a geopolitical weapon to destroy Venezuela by flooding the market with supply and driving prices down, according to the OPEC member. Hydraulic fracturing, the method used to remove shale oil trapped in rock, is “destructive,” President Nicolas Maduro said during a national address broadcast on radio and television. Venezuela’s economy shrank 2.8 percent last year as crude slumped almost 50 percent amid the fastest pace of U.S. production in more than three decades while the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries resisted calls to cut output. “The U.S. wants to use oil as a geopolitical weapon,” Maduro, 52, said during his speech on Jan. 21. “They’re trying to destroy Venezuela.” OPEC members Venezuela and Iran have questioned the group’s decision to maintain its quota. Oman, the biggest Middle Eastern oil producer that’s not part of OPEC, is having a “really difficult time” […]

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ENLARGE Citgo-branded gas stations weren’t part of the sales process. Reuters A sale process for Venezuela’s Citgo Petroleum Corp. has been called off, and the U.S.-based oil refiner instead plans a debt sale that would raise funds for the cash-strapped country. The auction was scrapped in recent days after several suitors submitted bids in early December, people familiar with the matter said. Citgo is now planning to raise $2.5 billion in debt instead, one of the people said. The sales process could be restarted later. Corporate auctions are rare in the immediate aftermath of such recapitalization deals, however, and the added debt could make the company less attractive to suitors too. Citgo, which operates three U.S. oil refineries and related assets from its Houston headquarters, was expected to fetch between $8 billion and $11 billion should it have been sold, analysts and people close to the sales process have […]

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Harvest Natural Resources Inc. , Houston, is seeking international arbitration against Venezuela, alleging the country’s government has thwarted efforts to sell its interest there. Through subsidiaries, Harvest owns 32% of Petrodelta SA, which produces oil in eastern Venezuela. The US company tried to sell the interest to state-owned PT Pertamina (Persero) of Indonesia and later to Pluspetrol Venezuela SA ( OGJ Online, Nov. 20, 2013 ). Harvest Pres. and Chief Executive Officer James A. Edmiston blamed the government for failure of those efforts. “Over the past decade, the Venezuelan government has violated Harvest’s rights as an investor by systematically thwarting the development of Harvest’s investment in Venezuela as well as the company’s ability to sell its interest there,” he said in a statement. Harvest has had interests in the Latin American country for 22 years. Affiliates HNR Finance BV and Harvest Vinccler SCA submitted a request for arbitration before […]

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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said his government plans to coordinate with OPEC and non-OPEC producers to create a “formula that impacts the oil market and restores the normalization of prices” in the next few weeks. Maduro spoke on Venezuela state television after meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin as falling oil prices threaten the economies of both nations. The two leaders met today in Moscow to discuss global oil markets and the “stability of natural resources,” Maduro said. “Venezuela is not just a friend but also a close partner, one of Russia ’s most important partners,” Putin said in a statement posted online by Venezuela’s Information Ministry. Venezuela, which holds the world’s largest crude reserves, relies on oil exports for almost 95 percent of foreign currency earnings. The price of the country’s crude fell to $42.44 a barrel last week from a peak of $100.64 on June 27. […]

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People line up outside a supermarket to buy toilet paper in Caracas January 12, 2015. REUTERS/Jorge … CARACAS (Reuters) – Governors in three Venezuelan states have banned overnight queuing amid huge and sometimes rowdy lines around shops across the scarcity-plagued country. Shortages of basic consumer products from milk to toilet paper have worsened since a lull in distribution over the Christmas and New Year holidays, prompting many to wait from the early hours on foot – or in hammocks – before shops open. The ubiquitous lines and frequent jostling for places when shop doors finally open are an embarrassment and irritation to Venezuelans across the political spectrum. There have also been scattered protests and arrests. "We are going to prohibit lines outside commercial establishments," Falcon state governor Stella Lugo said late on Tuesday. "Security forces have been instructed." She joined two other governors, in the states of Bolivar and […]

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Print | Single Page [ – ] Text [ + ] (Adds comments from National Assembly leader, access limits.) By Alexandra Ulmer and Javier Farias CARACAS/ SAN CRISTOBAL Jan 12 (Reuters) – At least a dozen protesters arrested in Venezuela remained in jail on Monday and masked assailants burned a bus amid scattered unrest over swelling lines for basic goods, activists said. Police rounded up 16 people for protesting outside stores over the weekend, according to the opposition MUD coalition, which said four of them were released shortly after. Rights group Penal Forum said 18 protesters were still behind bars on Monday. The government did not confirm that. Venezuela is suffering from chronic shortages of goods ranging from diapers to flour that have worsened since an ebb in deliveries over Christmas. The scarcity has forced shoppers across Venezuela to line up in front of stores before dawn. The MUD […]

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