Oh, Conviasa…
Just when you had finally paid the debt with the Italian company that leases you a Boeing 767 for your Madrid and Buenos Aires routes, now you have another aircraft retained for lack of payment. Sigh.
In this case, an Airbus A340 is being held in Bordeaux, France (where it was under maintenance) because of unpaid bills. The catch is that this plane is fully owned by Conviasa.
At the same time, the company is now looking for other long-distance airplanes (another A340 and an A310), so they can keep operating their long-distance flights.
But the issue also touches upon the huge debt the central government maintains with multiple international carriers.
This detailed report from news website RunRun.es shows how the state has paid only a fraction of what they owe twenty-three foreign airlines. But as Tourism Minister Andres Izarra insisted that there are “no debts” and that even Alitalia, one of the companies which left not long ago announced that it’s coming back, the overall situation has not improved, forcing people to go through Cucuta, Aruba, or Santo Domingo if they want to travel abroad.
Meanwhile, Maiquetia Airport remains really, really quiet … and with improvised toilets to boot.
Caracas Chronicles 
Reading chavista news the other day I came along with an article (I cant find it right now) that talks about the airlines debt. The article claimed that, technically, the government has no debt with foreign airlines because there is no contract obligation to give them $ for bolivares. Airlines are companies with bolivares and they just cant convert them into dollars, like everyone else. Anyone knows if there is any law that force the government to give them dollars? Or they just have to suck it up an leave like any other international company trying to do business in Venezuela? I am thinking about international repercussions for any Venezuelan asset abroad that can be sized in order to get their money back
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Man, what are you saying?! All trading agreements between a country and a foreign company include a basic clause:
Profits belong to the company and they should be transferred wherever the company chooses to under the rules of the host country.
This is true since ancient history! When chavistas say there’s no contractual obligation to do so, THEY ARE LYING. If in doubt, see for yourself the regarding matter on CADIVI and Cencoex statutes, which by the way had been readily executed since 2003. You should know by now chavismo loves to play word confusion, such as the no-debt thing.
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I wonder if you have to tip the guy for the slop bucket.
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Actually, give him dollars and he will give you bolivars with which to wipe. God forbid they use actual toilet paper; its worth more than the currency.
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Is that actually true yet? That the currency is worth less than it’s equivalent weight in toilet paper?
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No, it isn’t. We’ve got our chunk of money but seldom can we find what we’re looking for at the stores. What the other guy’s trying to say is the US dollar is more appreciated than the Venezuelan bolivar for being a reliable and stable store of value.
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Yes. Besides, the absorbency just isn’t there in any event.
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This is just the beginning. The world is starting to foreclose on Venezuela. When all the various court cases finally generate judgements against Venezuela they are going to start attaching assets everywhere.
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How bad things can get depends on how bad the pueblo lets them get! I am sure of one thing, that the regime doesn’t know how bad things can get either, and they must be thinking about it…. that they must know that they will all go together when they go to the same “fate” whatever it may be! They me be fighting amongst each other, but they have a common “fate.”
“fate”, noun The development of events beyond a person’s control, regarded as determined by a supernatural power. Synonyms: destiny, providence, the stars, chance, luck, serendipity, fortune, kismet, karma.
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You think they don’t know?
Thinks will get as bad as they want to, they keep pushing and pushing and thrusting and thrusting, and the venezuelan people just gets comfortable.
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“This detailed report from news website RunRun.es shows how the state has paid only a fraction of what they owe twenty-three foreign airlines”
Is Bocaranda a legitimate news source now? yeah, yeah, i do realize the country is collapsing but..
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Of course he is. Who else could’ve broken the news of Chavez’s illness in 2011?
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