Reply #1: Chavez sometimes pays - what he wants

[social_critic]

The record shows the Venezuelan government pays, sometimes. And when it pays it pays what it wants, unless a foreign government leans on Venezuela.

This of course is what cuts off foreign investment in Venezuela. Did you notice Repsol and ENI announced a huge gas discovery a while back, and nothing has been done to develop the find? Even though Venezuela imports gas from Colombia? The two companies find themselves unable to invest as long as the government is behaving as it is and fails to provide the guarantees against nationalization they would need.

The lack of investment is of course one of the reasons why the Venezuelan economy is in frank decay - in the end, the country will be poor and its middle class will flee. Another Uganda.