Venezuela: Against the Wall

07/06/2014 | Filed under: Mala Administración PPD y Neo-Comunistas | Posted by: Francisco

Venezuela: Against the Wall

Good morning, I have attached a PDF of some Venezuela data that I thought you might like to see.

Chavez en Cuba

As you may know, over the last few months I have been involved with a team helping to push through sanctions on Venezuela. Last week, the US House of Representatives passed its version of a sanctions bill (http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=2288373&CategoryId=10717 ). The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has passed its version (http://www.laht.com/article.asp?CategoryId=10717&ArticleId=2240164 ). There is now jockeying to bring the bills to the Senate floor.

You may find some of the attached slides from the PDF particularly interesting.

The initial slides show the drastic drop in reserves from $40 billion to $20 billion (even as its major component gold rose), rising 60% inflation, the falling currency, and the 60% scarcity index, which we have discussed before, though you may not have seen them graphically.

You may find the declining US oil imports slides and increasing US domestic oil production slides interesting (7-9) as well as the resulting fall in Venezuela’s oil exports to the US. You may also like to see the graph detailingVenezuela’s falling oil production as well as who actually pays for Venezuela’s oil (US, China and India) and how much money that is in real terms. In real money, while Venezuela’s oil sales may net Venezuela between $50 billion depending on their actual production, their imports alone had been $59 billion, though that is crashing rapidly as widespread shortages show.

El PPD es totalmente controlado por Chavez y Fidel

While Venezuela’s production in the east and west of the country has been falling, their Orinoco production is growing rapidly, as the billions invested by serious international oil companies like Chevron, ENI, Repsol, Rosneft, CNPC, & ONGC (not to mention the expropriated billion dollar investments by ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil) continue to ramp up production. Ironically, long before the new US Keystone pipeline is even started, Venezuela has virtually finished its own pipeline to bring oil from the infrastructure poor Orinoco area to its giant Jose Refinery and Terminal Complex on the Caribbean this week. The 154 mile pipeline can carry 750,000 barrels per day, though there are other bottlenecks and infrastructure needed. (These slides were for VIP’s, administration officials and congressional leaders and were not in the public bundle attached. Please let me know if you would like to see them or discuss these developments further).

You may find Slide 14 interesting — it shows the oil reserves and production levels of the US, Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, and Brazil.

Slide 15 and 16 show just why Venezuela, with the world’s largest oil reserves, has lower production than the US, Canada and Mexico — foreign direct investment. After years of expropriation by Hugo Chavez, foreign direct investment in Venezuela continued falling and actually went NEGATIVE in 2009 and as slide 16 shows is the lowest as a percentage of GDP in the hemisphere, save for Ecuador. At the same time, as slide 17 shows, Venezuela’s cost to borrow in international markets is also the highest in the region.

Finally, just to show what it all means — where the rubber literally hits the road — slide 18 shows new car sales in Venezuela, which fell 87% in the last year to just 817 (not a typo, 817) new cars in February. In 2007, new car sales were over 25,000 a month.

You can also find the Public Slideshow Presentation online here: http://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Russ-Dallen-Presentation.pdf

Thanks again for your continued readership and business.

P.S. By the way, you can make sure that you get these and other Latin headlines every day (including the best Picture and Cartoon of the day) delivered to your email inbox FREE by signing up for headlines from the Latin American Herald Tribune. Sign up here:

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Russell M Dallen Jr
Managing Partner
Caracas Capital Markets
Caracas: 58 212 335 1906
New York: 646-201-5843
Miami: 305-735-8280

NY: 646-201-5843 Miami 305-735-8280 London 207-993-4557 Caracas 58-212-335-1906 >>

Vea http://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Russ-Dallen-Presentation.pdf

Attachments area

Preview attachment RUSSDA~1.PDF

RUSSDA~1.PDF

US House Passes Sanctions on Venezuela’s Maduro Regime (VIDEO)
“The passage of this bill clearly shows that my colleagues and I are committed to supporting the Venezuelan people’s struggle for democracy, rule of law, and liberty, and that we will not look the other way when an abusive autocrat brutalizes his own people,” said Florida Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who sponsored the legislation.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill to sanction Venezuelan officials involved in brutal repression of protestors in the oil-rich South American nation.H.R. 4587 – the Venezuelan Human Rights and Democracy Protection Act,

was designed to punish officials in the regime of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro who are responsible for committing human rights violations. The measure was passed in a voice vote in which no objections were heard on the floor of the House of Representatives on Wednesday afternoon.“I’m pleased that the House of Representatives has acted to punish the thugs of the Maduro regime for brutally repressing and violating the human rights of those seeking to exercise their basic freedoms of speech and assembly in Venezuela,» said U.S. Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), who sponsored the legislation.»The passage of this bill clearly shows that my colleagues and I are committed to supporting the Venezuelan people’s struggle for democracy, rule of law, and liberty, and that we will not look the other way when an abusive autocrat brutalizes his own people.»

The bill:

Denies visas to enter the United States, blocks property, freezes assets, and prohibits financial transactions to members of the Venezuelan regime who are responsible for the commission of serious human rights abuses against the citizens of Venezuela;
Denies visas to enter the United States, blocks property, freezes assets and prohibits financial transactions to members of the Venezuelan regime who have engaged in censorship against individuals or media outlets disseminating information in relation to protests in Venezuela;
Calls on the President to transmit to Congress a strategy to promote internet freedom, access to information, and to encourage Venezuela to abide by the Principles enshrined in the Inter-American Democratic Charter; and
Directs the United States Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States (OAS) to use the voice, vote, and influence of the United States at the OAS to defend and protect the Inter-American Democratic Charter, and strengthen the independent Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to advance the protection of human rights throughout the Western Hemisphere.

Passage of the bill was not assured, as earlier in the week, 14 Democratic members of Congress had sent a letter to U.S. President Barack Obama against the sanctions.Six of the 14 signers of the letter were members of the Congressional Black Caucus, and included Representatives John Conyers, Henry «Hank» Johnson, Karen Bass, Barbara Lee, Raul Grijalva, James McGovern, Sam Farr, Chellie Pingree, Keith Ellison, Jan Schakowsky, Emmanuerl Cleaver, Jose Serrano, Michael Capuano, and Peter Welch.

Many members of the Congressional Black Caucus had expressed support for former Venezuela President Hugo Chavez and some had recently travelled to Cuba.

At the same time, 3 other Florida members of the Congressional Black Caucus were co-sponsors of the sanctions bill, including Representatives Corrine Brown, Frederica Wilson, and Alcee Hastings.

Other Co-Sponsors of HR 4587 included Representatives Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), Ted Deutch (D-FL), Joe Garcia (D-FL), Matt Salmon (R-AZ), Albio Sires (D-NJ), Patrick Murphy (D-FL), Steve Stockman (R-TX), Ron DeSantis (R-FL), Michael McCaul (R-TX), Michael Grimm (R-NY), Alan Grayson (D-FL), Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), Christopher Smith (R-FL), Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), Jeff Duncan (R-SC), Ted Poe (R-TX), Ted Yoho (R-FL), and Sean Duffy (R-WI).

Florida Senator Marco Rubio has sponsored a similar bill in the Senate. That bill was passed by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week and awaits action on the Senate floor.

«I hope that the Senate can act swiftly to pass the House version of the bill so that we can send it to the President’s desk as soon as possible to ensure that those responsible for human rights abuses are held accountable,” said Ros-Lehtinen.

46 people have been killed, over 1000 injured and over 3000 arrested since the protests began in February. Protests were initially against insecurity and the highest murder rate in the world, but the Maduro regime’s harsh crackdown on innocent student protestors brought more protestors into the streets against the repression, widespread shortages, 60% inflation, and an unconvertible currency that has lost 88% of its value in the last 3 months. Many protestors, including Harvard-educated Opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, and Opposition San Cristobal, Tachira state Mayor Daniel Ceballos and San Diego, Carabobo state Mayor Enzo Scarano, have been in jail for months. In what is seen as widespread rebuke of the Maduro regime, special elections the Government called on Sunday to replace the jailed Mayors were won by the wives of the unjustly incarcerated Mayors with as much as 87% of the vote.

HR4587 Venezuela Human Rights and Democracy Protection Act by Latin American Herald Tribune

US Senate Committee Approves Venezuela Sanctions (VIDEO)

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee has passed a bill that seeks to punish Venezuelan officials accused of human rights violations during protests that have left 42 dead in the country since they began in February.“Today we took an important step forward to punish human rights abusers in Nicolás Maduro’s regime,» said one of the bill’s co-sponsor’s Senator Marco Rubio. «The Venezuelan people have suffered enough under the incompetence of Hugo Chávez and now Nicolás Maduro.»Only 2 of the 18 senators on the Committee — Republican Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee who is the Ranking Minority member, and Democratic Senator Tom Udall of New Mexico — voted against the bill, which passed by a vote of 13-2.

The bill, S-2142 Venezuela Defense of Human Rights and Civil Society Act of 2014 (see below), now goes to the full Senate to be voted on.

The bill would allow U.S. President Barack Obama to freeze assets and ban US visits by any current or former Venezuelan government official responsible for «directing significant acts of violence or serious human rights abuses against persons associated with the anti-government protests in Venezuela.»

It also allows the White House to crack down on those who ordered the arrest or prosecution of demonstrators, or who are deemed as having provided assistance including financial support for such acts.

The bill would commit $15 million to help non-governmental organisations, including pro-democracy groups as well as independent media in Venezuela.

The House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee approved a similar draft law earlier this month. It is awaiting a debate and vote on the House floor.

Street protests in Venezuela have left 42 dead and 835 wounded with over 3000 arrested, including Opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez and San Cristobal Mayor Daniel Ceballos and San Diego Mayor Enzo Scarano, who remain jailed.

The protests began in February as an outpouring of anger against the inability of President Nicolas Maduro’s socialist administration to resolve Venezuela’s high crime rate after a campus rape in San Cristobal, but quickly spread as the government — advised by Cuba — tried to crush the peaceful student protests with the military. The injustice and widespread disastrous economic policies added fuel to mass dissatisfaction, and protests broke out all over the country against everything from the lack of household basics like milk, bread and toilet paper to the 60% (official) inflation to an uncovertible currency that has devalued over 88% in the last four months.

«Now that thousands of innocent Venezuelans have protested courageously and peacefully, against the failure that is this chavista government, we can’t allow the government’s repression, violence and murders to go unpunished,» said Rubio. “We have to severely punish the Maduro regime, and today the Senate Foreign Relations Committee took a key step toward approving these sanctions. And I hope the full Senate will soon do the same.”

Senate Bill 2142 – Venezuela Sanctions