On Friday, January 2nd, Brent crude oil prices closed at around US$57 per barrel. Two days later, an alarmed Nicolás Maduro announced that he would travel to China for the China-Celac Forum, and to several OPEC and non-OPEC countries “to continue high-level efforts (to create) a strategy for a recovery of oil prices.” Everyone knew Nicolás was…
After Richard Nixon went to China, historians began coining the phrase “Nixon in China” or “Nixon goes to China” to signal an unexpected shift by an ideological politician who decides to embrace and engage a foe. After this week’s calamitous visit to China, where he came away empty handed, we should coin the term “Maduro in China”…
The US Congress has passed a law asking for sanctions against Venezuelan human rights violators. President Obama is expected to sign it. So you will hear a lot in the coming days about “imperialism,” about how the US is looking to overthrow the Venezuelan revolution, and about how our number one trading partner will “never get their hands on…
When readers suggested I explore the relationship between Venezuela and China on the blog, I was less than enthralled. After all, pretty much all you need to know about these two countries can be summed up in this headline: That pretty much sums it up: China bankrolls the revolution, and in exchange Venezuela gives it what…
One of the more interesting angles of the China financing story is the way it is hampering Venezuela’s ability to weather the current slump in the oil prices. Here is the lowdown on the renegotiation with China: “The MOFCOM article goes on to explain that the declining oil price requires Venezuela to export more oil, but that…
For years – literally years – we’ve been wondering exactly how much money the Venezuelan government had squirrelled away in its “parafiscal funds”: Fonden- and Fondo Chino-style unaudited, unreported, wholly discretionary accounting black boxes. Finally, yesterday, Maduro let the cat out of the bag: announcing he would finally unite all of these different pots into a…
The official press in Venezuela is full of details on the state visit of Chinese leader Xi Jinping. As part of his Caracas tour, agreements will be signed, swords will be passed around, sashes will be worn, tombs will be visited, oil will be traded, and a full-blown one-directional slobber-fest will take place. But the only thing, the…
So the BRICS countries are meeting in Brazil right now, and their influential leaders have invited hilarious sideshows such as Nicolás Maduro to tag along. The big thing coming out of the meeting? A new BRICS development bank. Hmm, a development bank for emerging economies. Now where have I heard that idea before? You might be…
Remember that Chavista deputy from Merida that was a little too honest while talking about how Asian inmigrants must toe the line and stop speculating? Well… Vice-President (and Chávez’s son-in-law, lest we forget why he got this job) Jorge Arreaza has upped the ante, by calling “Asian business owners to adjust their prices this week,…
The folks at the FT are worried. Very worried. Two money quotes, given their annoying firewalls: “In a report last week which was otherwise bullish on supplies, analysts at Citigroup called Venezuela “probably the biggest bull risk to the oil market in 2014 outside of the MENA [Middle East and north Africa] region.” “The current…
A few weeks ago I wrote an article for Foreign Policy’s Transitions blog about Nicolás Maduro’s China trip. Given the influence China is playing in how Venezuela shapes its policies, I labeled Maduro the Manchurian President. (If you have trouble accessing the article, here it is in Portuguese) Tom O’Donnell expands on this and provides…
Nicolás Maduro is wrapping up a trip to the piggy bank visit to China. The deal that he signed means that China gives us money so that we can buy trinkets from them and continue subsidizing the scam that is Cadivi. In exchange, they get our oil. In the end, China keeps their money and…
We may hate to admit it, but Nicolás Maduro’s Chinese junket has, as far as we can tell, been a success. He gets to leave with a headline figure of $20 bn. dollars worth of new deals with the Chinese. Of course, only an unknowable-portion of that number will end up finding its way into…
Interior Minister Miguel Rodríguez Torres has revealed his latest plan to fight crime: Deploying a lot of security cameras. A lot. Thanks to a brand new deal with CEIEC, a company owned by our Chinese overlords, the government will put at least 30,000 security cameras all around Venezuela in order to collect information in real…
On this blog, the occasions where we actually congratulate the government for something are extremely rare. Today is one of those occasions. A few days ago, Vice-President Jorge Arreaza went to China. Instead of the usual “pulling-out-your-hat-and-begging-for-money” and leaving it at that, he instead begged for money … but also learned something about the Chinese…
Caracas Chronicles 