Venezuela's leader casts unusual vote, decries 'terrorism'
Source: AP
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro asked for global acceptance on Sunday as he cast an unusual pre-dawn vote for an all-powerful constitutional assembly that his opponents fear he'll use to replace his country's democracy with a single-party authoritarian system.
Accompanied by close advisers and state media, Maduro voted at 6:05 a.m. local time, far earlier and less publicly than in previous elections. The run-up to the vote has been marked by months of clashes between protesters and the government, including the fatal shooting of a 61-year-old nurse by men accused of being pro-government paramilitaries during a protest at a church a few hundred feet from the school where Maduro voted.
Maduro and his socialist administration deny links to violent paramilitaries and say the political opposition is responsible for the violence that has left at least 113 dead and nearly 2000 wounded in four months of protests.
"We've stoically withstood the terrorist, criminal violence," Maduro said. "Hopefully the world will respectfully extend its arms toward our country."
Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/venezuela-leader-assembly-foes-041524298.html
MattP
(3,304 posts)COLGATE4
(14,732 posts)Sunlei
(22,651 posts)NobodyHere
(2,810 posts)Don't they sell to the highest bidder just like anyone? Who's not allowed to buy it?
GatoGordo
(2,412 posts)...goes to countries like Cuba, in exchange for various services (medical, educational, etc), and China, in exchange for services previously rendered. China built a lot of (shoddy) infrastructure for Venezuela after Chavez chased the educated and highly skilled Venezuelans away after 2003.
The oil that doesn't go to the US doesn't get reimbursed in cash, which is Maduro's big problem. He needs foreign capital, as well as foreign know how to keep his cash cow running. He could send all his oil to China, but he wouldn't get the cash he needs. Right now, he needs cash. He has cash buyers in India, but they cannot process his heavy oil. (see below)
His second problem is that Venezuelan oil is more like tar. It takes a lot of effort (and $$$) to pump this sludge to the surface, then to send it through pipelines he needs to thin it to be more fluid/less viscous. He needs the likes of Halliburton to do this for him (again, he fired all his petrochemical experts years ago) and he has to buy US light sweet Brent to mix with it.
joshcryer
(62,265 posts)Subsidized gasoline is super duper popular.
joshcryer
(62,265 posts)It's abominable the "agreements" that Venezuela has made with China to pad the wallets of the oligarchs.
China was supposed to have built magnificent housing projects in Venezuela but has left them with unworking slums. Had they simply hired some US or EU contractors to do the planning (only for the higher standards that western countries employ; heck they could've hired Chilean architects for the job) and hired Venezuelans to do the work (and paid them well) then the oil money would've been spent internally as opposed to literally given to China for slave Chinese labor work with subpar building.
When oil was $120 a barrel Venezuela could've revolutionized its economy and its standard of living in a matter of years. It would not have been difficult and they'd be in a much better position now.
christx30
(6,241 posts)foreign currency. The people need foreign goods and services. Venezuela doesn't have much of anything in the way of industry. The rest of the world won't take bolivars as payment.
And for the sake of all that is good and holy, stop nationalizing everything under the sun. No one is going to bring anything in the country if they think there's a 90% chance it's going to get stolen by the government.
GatoGordo
(2,412 posts)Venezuela is chock full of Cubans who are "advising" Maduro on Socialism. Chavez nationalized any industry that had any value (oil, mining, steel/aluminium, farming) and promptly set about screwing it up. He fired his highly skilled industrial workers and replaced them with PSUV lackeys. Farms no longer produce. Oil industry is collapsing. The electrical grid is pathetic and dangerous. Bridges are collapsing and highways are unsafe. Hospitals don't have sterile gauze, let alone the equipment to do surgery. No insulin, aspirin, and oral contraceptives. Groceries are expensive, and the state stores rarely have any food. And the Chavismo economic model is beyond description. I think Maduro's Cuban advisers are seeking another Western country to have a lower standard of living than them.
The nepotism and kleptocracy is beyond comprehension. Chavez' daughter Maria, who was a low level ambassador during her career in Chavismo? Worth an estimated $4.2 BILLION.
Zorro
(15,691 posts)Hugo's net worth was a state secret before he took his dirt nap. Wonder why.