The Venezuelan government had announced some days earlier that it was getting Chinese investments for 20 billion dollars. I wrote about that here and Miguel wrote much more extensively about the same subject here. Today we can read in Spanish an interview with Ramírez, the Red Baron of PDVSA. In today's Venezuela, the public has hardly any access to information about the big deals Chavismo closes with foreign powers. We can only hope to get some bits of information from the Venezuelan regime when it feels like doing it.
Basically, in clear text, these are some of the items we get from the article (some is very clear, some just needs a little bit of between-the-lines reading):
Basically, in clear text, these are some of the items we get from the article (some is very clear, some just needs a little bit of between-the-lines reading):
- Chavismo gets "20 billion dollars" to be paid in oil and oil products
- Venezuela will have to give 100000 oil barrels per year for that (at least this year, but I don't think it will get "better" for us)
- Venezuela would be thus sending up to now a total of 200 thousand barrels of oil to pay loans to China (as there were already 2 credits for 8 billion "dollars")
- Those 20 billions are not supposed to be for oil projects (for which PDVSA needs money as Miguel wrote); the regime is currently deciding "in what programmes to use the money" (which means they basically are running out of money and what to be sure they have enough for the September elections)
- As Miguel had found out, the Chinese will be giving 50% of the amount in dollars and 50% in yuan
- Ramírez said that they are getting those yuan because Venezuela "has the strategy of not depending too much on dollars". Ramírez also said the yuan is a freely convertible currency, which is half the truth (or a third of the truth, we will actually get the 2/3). Now I wonder what happens if the yuan gets revalued as the US is expecting. What are we going to pay? Ramírez also says "nuestra alianza es ahora con China". This goes along the line of Chávez, who said the commitment was done because his system and political views were here to stay as the Chinese ones. So basically we go now from US dependency to Chinese dependency. Great.
The PDVSA baron also talked about the nationalization of service companies. He said the government would pay "when we are ready" and that those companies, having problems with their workers, "even own us money". In clear text: the government still does not have money for them, so it will just threaten them in order to make them stop bothering.
The Venezuelan government is currently receiving several times the amount of petrodollars governments in the nineties were getting from oil exports and yet it is pushing Venezuela into more and more debts. I am sure the regime will have money aplenty for this year's elections, just like in 2004, even if the nation will have to pay for it very dearly.
And what is the opposition doing? They have no clue.
ACHTUNG! WATCH OUT! There are two polls on the right panel. It would be great if you could take a second to fill in your choices. Thanks!