| Submit your comments on this article |
| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Collapsing Venezuela |
| 2007-01-23 |
| By Richard W. Rahn If Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez deliberately intended to sabotage his nation's economy, he would be hard-pressed to do anything different from what he is now doing to his country. It has been widely reported that Mr. Chavez has been increasingly taking control of the oil, telecommunications and energy sectors, as well as the media. What has not been reported is the full extent of the corruption in Venezuela and how this ultimately will destroy the economy. The financial scandal taking place is far bigger than Enron, and may ultimately even exceed the U.N. "oil-for-food" scandal, the biggest financial disgrace of all time. Venezuela has had a rapidly growing economy for the last few years, due to high oil prices, but the house of cards is about to collapse. The former Venezuelan representative to Transparency International, Gustavo Coronel, has documented how much of this corruption has taken place in a report published by the Cato Institute's Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity. Forty years ago, Venezuela had become a functioning democracy and was experiencing solid economic growth, but beginning in the mid-1970s corruption increased. Partially as a result, Hugo Chavez was elected president in December 1998 on an anti-corruption platform. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #11 Oil revenue is still twice what it was when Chavez came to power. |
| Posted by: ed 2007-01-23 16:53 |
| #10 The only question is how much longer can Venezuela's economy glide before crashing with the price of oil down and their oil field infrastructure old and breaking. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2007-01-23 16:03 |
| #9 Since 2004, the Venezuelan Central Bank has transferred about $22.5 billion to accounts abroad by the Chavez government, and about $12 billion of that remains unaccounted for. It has also been reported that the gold reserves have been removed from the Central Bank. Saving up for a |
| Posted by: tu3031 2007-01-23 15:19 |
| #8 Why bother. Just seize Citgo refineries and gas stations in the US. They are worth more. |
| Posted by: ed 2007-01-23 12:44 |
| #7 It's not like the old days of wire and analog connections anymore. Then you just sent the local Army unit down to secure the building. Now all the gee whiz magic just made payback so much easier. Open season to 'Freak the Hugo'. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2007-01-23 11:32 |
| #6 If it's CDMA is it Lucent or Mot Equipment? Is it pre or post IP backbone? (It makes a difference...) If it is "pre" then infect the transcoders. Double passwords should still be the same... just ask. Also, the core mgmt should have an easy password.... hehe.. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2007-01-23 10:46 |
| #5 Frank- AMEN to that - if Chavez is serious, then a trusted AMERICAN manager needs to be sent down there first with a 'special' disc to upload into the system just before the handover. With a little judicious programming, all of our people can be back home before the system crashes. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2007-01-23 09:21 |
| #4 He'll earn another sprocket for the collapse of his oil and telecom markets. The American companies should sabotage the phone and internet systems if they are nationalized, make sure they quit working |
| Posted by: Frank G 2007-01-23 07:20 |
| #3 Approaching the mugabe model. Who needs economies when you are trying to use starvation as population control? The old Communist model of utopia. Curse you Chavez. You have lost it. |
| Posted by: newc 2007-01-23 05:14 |
| #2 I don't understand why the White House is so timid on its statements about Chavez. |
| Posted by: Gloque Elmang4914 2007-01-23 04:58 |
| #1 He's a friggin' financial genius. Probably been talking to his buddy Soros. |
| Posted by: SpecOp35 2007-01-23 01:40 |