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Venezuelan parliament votes to begin impeachment proceedings against Maduro

ClaraD said:
There are some claims on Venezuelan news that the US has troops positioned to invade Venezuela in an attempt to remove Maduro...I do not know how true it is as I do not put a lot of stock in state news in Venezuela, but if it is...I bet it only happens if Trump loses in an effort to wag the dog.
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There were some American mercenaries caught a while back... Other than that nothing.
 
Venezuela mulls 100,000 Bolivar bill. Guess how much it’s worth?
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www.aljazeera.com

Venezuela mulls 100,000 Bolivar bill. Guess how much it’s worth?

Venezuela bought security paper and considers printing 100,000-bolivar notes to keep up with 2,400 percent inflation.
www.aljazeera.com www.aljazeera.com

Venezuela bought security paper and is considering printing 100,000-bolivar notes to keep up with 2,400 percent inflation.

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Severe inflation and an ever-weakening currency mean buying a full cart of groceries requires a bag full of cash for Venezuelan families. [File: Joshua Collins/Al Jazeera] Border AJ Impact

By Patricia Laya and Fabiola Zerpa Bloomberg
5 Oct 2020

Venezuela has begun to import banknote paper and is mulling plans to print bills with larger denominations as hyperinflation causes shortages of cash, according to six people with knowledge of the matter.

The country has brought in about 71 tons of security paper this year from an Italian printer majority owned by the private equity firm Bain Capital, according to some of the people and data reviewed by Bloomberg from Import Genius, which compiles customs records it obtains through private sources. The central bank is considering new bills starting with 100,000 bolivars, the people said. It would be the highest denomination yet, but still worth only $0.23.
Click link above for full article.
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The new 100,000 Bolivar bill, “Guess how much it’s worth?” Less than toilet paper, its currency is no longer of any use., Hyperinflation has brought 87% of the population below the poverty line, and about 4.5 million people have left the country. This is a disaster of apocalyptic proportions.
 
Venezuela’s Oil Industry Is On Its Last Legs
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By Matthew Smith - Nov 03, 2020, 5:00 PM CST

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Venezuelas-Oil-Industry-Is-On-Its-Last-Legs.html

Last week was devastating for Venezuela, its people and nearly collapsed oil industry. Oil production since the start of 2020 has fallen catastrophically to multi-decade lows, the extremely fragile economy continues to contract and poorly maintained infrastructure keeps failing.

Washington is turning the screws on Maduro’s regime, imposing ever tighter sanctions aimed at isolating Caracas from economically crucial global energy and financial markets. The near implosion of Venezuela’s oil industry is evident from crude oil inventories rising at a savage clip. According to Bloomberg, for the three weeks from the start of October the pariah Latin American country’s oil inventories surged by 84% to be 10.6 million barrels at the Jose port facility. News agency Reuters stated in an article that those inventories have reached 11.4 million barrels. This sharp increase underscores the considerable impact U.S. sanctions are having on Caracas’ ability to access international energy markets and sell the little oil PDVSA is producing.
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Venezuela oil industry, and Maduro regime are hanging by a thread. U.S. sanctions have cripple the oil industry. Maduro has asked China for help during a meeting with Chinese businessmen. He said: “I ask for the help from China, I ask for the help from (President) Xi Jinping.” But China has been scaling back economic support. Its economic activities in Venezuela have declined, and it is estimate that Venezuela owe China nearly $20 billion in outstanding loans. The most that the Maduro regime would get is diplomatic support. from China.
 
U.S. sanctions cripple Venezuela’s oil industry
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https://www.worldoil.com/news/2020/10/23/us-sanctions-cripple-venezuela-s-oil-industry

By LUCIA KASSAI on 10/23/2020

CARACAS (Bloomberg) -- Venezuelan crude inventories have surged 84% over the last three weeks as the threat of U.S. sanctions ward away buyers of the nation’s most important commodity. That raises the risk that state-run PDVSA will have to start shutting in production again, and is the latest sign that Venezuela’s oil industry is on the verge of collapse.

The port of Jose, the main gateway of the country’s oil exports, has been empty for a week as importers of Venezuelan crude including India’s Reliance Industries Ltd, Spain’s Repsol SA and Italy’s Eni SpA skipped oil purchases this month, according to internal reports seen by Bloomberg. The three companies last month took a combined 9.7 MMbbl, accounting for more than half of September’s exports.
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Venezuela oil collapse are due mainly to sharply lower oil prices, and severe U.S. sanctions. PDVSA is in disarray after years of economic mismanagement, cronyism and corruption. This signals the death knell for Venezuela’s petroleum industry.
 
Iran sends biggest ever fleet of oil tankers to Venezuela
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Iran sends biggest ever fleet of oil tankers to Venezuela | Latin America News | Al Jazeera

Defying US sanctions, Iran sends flotilla of about 10 vessels to help the Latin American nation fight a crippling fuel shortage.

By Fabiola Zerpa, Ben Bartenstein and Peter Millard

Bloomberg
6 Dec 2020

Iran is sending its biggest fleet yet of tankers to Venezuela in defiance of U.S. sanctions to help the isolated nation weather a crippling fuel shortage, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Some of the flotillas of about 10 Iranian vessels will also help export Venezuelan crude after discharging fuel, the people said, asking not to be named because the transaction is not public.

The Nicolas Maduro regime is widening its reliance on Iran as an ally of last resort after even Russia and China have avoided challenging the U.S. ban on trade with Venezuela.

The country’s fuel crunch follows decades of mismanagement, corruption and under-investment at state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela since the time of Maduro’s late mentor and predecessor, Hugo Chavez.
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The Maduro regime is not only running out of cash, it is also running out of rope. The Chinese couldn’t fix the refineries built by U.S. mayor oil companies, and the Iranians will be unable to do it too.
 
Since 2014 according to figures compiled by the United Nations, more than 5 million Venezuelans have left the country. The U.N. has accused the regime of instilling fear in the population to retain power.
 
Venezuela's oil exports sink to 1940's level under tighter U.S. sanctions
Venezuela's oil exports sink to 1940's level under tighter U.S. sanctions (bna.bh)
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04 Jan 2021

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https://bna-media.s3-eu-west-1.amaz...s/2-96da316a-0281-42fb-acef-a0643ed457e0.jpeg
Venezuela's oil exports sink to 1940's level under tighter U.S. sanctions

Venezuela, Jan. 4 (BNA): Pressured by strict U.S. sanctions, Venezuela’s oil exports plunged by 376,500 barrels per day (bpd) in 2020, according to Refinitiv Eikon data and internal documents from state-run PDVSA, financially squeezing socialist President Nicolas Maduro.

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump also put curbs on PDVSA’s main trading partners, the owners of tankers still transporting Venezuelan oil and on fuel supply to the gasoline-thirsty nation, Reuters reported.

The punishment, aimed to oust Maduro after his 2018 re-election was called a sham by most Western nations, has led PDVSA to pursue new customers, rely on mostly unknown intermediaries to resell its oil and deepen ties with Iran, another country under U.S. sanctions.

Venezuela’s exports of crude and refined products fell 37.5% in 2020 to 626,534 bpd, the lowest in 77 years. The decrease was even larger for fuel imports, which fell 51% compared with 2019, to 83,780 bpd, according to the data.
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Maduro’s regime Achilles' heel is the economy. Most of the refineries are shut down. In 2010 oil export revenues reached closed to $100 billion, in 2020 less than $6 billion. The oil industry currently produce less than 25,000 barrels per day of gasoline, 25% of the 100,000 required. The gasoline and diesel oil deficit have increased transportation bottlenecks and electricity blackouts, and a new gasoline shipments from Iran has so far not taking place.
 
Sandokan said:

Maduro’s mob assaulting the National Assembly session.

Notwithstanding the mob assault the National Assembly decided that Maduro perpetrated a coup and voted a resolution that: Requested intervention of international organizations, and that Maduro shall be impeached for violations of the constitution.
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They dont want a puppet of the US government like Guaido who has absolutely no legitimacy other than the US saying so :\.
 
U.S. Extends Sanctions on Venezuelan Oil Including Six Tankers
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U.S. Extends Sanctions on Venezuelan Oil Including Six Tankers (maritime-executive.com)

BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE 01-21-2021 03:01:16

In one of its final actions, the Trump administration extended the sanctions targeting the Venezuelan oil industry. Saying that it was targeting orchestrators and facilitators who have conspired with Venezuelan and Mexican interests to broker the sale of hundreds of millions of dollars of Venezuelan oil, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated three individuals, fourteen entities, and six tankers for their ties to a network attempting to evade United States sanctions on Venezuela’s oil sector.

“Those facilitating the illegitimate Maduro regime’s attempts to circumvent United States sanctions contribute to the corruption that consumes Venezuela,” said now former Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin. “The United States remains committed to targeting those enabling the Maduro regime’s abuse of Venezuela’s natural resources.”
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Venezuela oil industry is becoming progressively worst. Venezuela economy is in a free fall and it has descended into political turmoil under Maduro regime. The regime elite minority control the economy and political institutions are weak and without accountability, and corruption is widespread. It would be very difficult for the regime to reverse its tailspin.
 
The impostor Juan Guaido (remember this one?) few weeks ago, he was very dissatisfied with the agreement between Caracas and Moscow on the supply of the Sputnik-V vaccine. Now he changed his shoes and outraged, that they bought too little and vaccinated for a long time. The clown calls the authorities to justice...
 
Stop criminalizing civil society, UN rights experts urge Venezuelan authorities
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Stop criminalizing civil society, UN rights experts urge Venezuelan authorities | | UN News

18 February 2021 Human Rights

United Nations independent human rights experts called on Thursday for the authorities in Venezuela to stop “continuous and increasing” attacks and intimidation against civil society organizations and journalists in the country.

Their call followed the release on 10 February of five human rights defenders and members of the non-governmental organization (NGO) Azul Positivo, who had been detained since 12 January. However, the charges they faced, relating to money laundering along with terrorism and its financing have not been dropped, according to a news release issued by the experts.

“The arrests and criminal charges are part of a pattern of increasing criminalization of civil society organizations in Venezuela, which already operate under a repressive set of laws and regulations including the 2017 ‘Law Against Hate’ that restricts the exercise of their right to freedom of peaceful assembly, association and expression, among others”, the experts said.
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The Maduro regime would not pay attention to the call of UN human rights experts to stop the harassment of civil society. A a matter of fact, worse than that is the extrajudicial execution of at least 14 men in las Vegas area of Caracas. The regime would continuous to harass, arrest, detain and kill those that it catalog as opponents of the regime.
 
Venezuela Oil Exports Drop After U.S. Sanctions on Key Traders
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By Lucia Kassai
March 1, 2021, 12:50 PM PST

Venezuela oil exports dropped in February after the U.S. sanctioned key trading houses and individuals that had been propping up exports of the commodity that bankrolls President Nicolas Maduro’s regime.

Crude shipments fell to 418,857 barrels a day in February, a 13% drop from January, according to shipping reports and ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. In mid-January the U.S. blacklisted Maltese trading company Elemento Limited and Geneva-based Swissoil Trading SA for facilitating Maduro’s attempts to circumvent U.S. sanctions.

Elemento Ltd. and Swissoil had been helping the country to keep selling oil embargoed by America. In a violation of sanctions, Elemento bought oil from Petroleos de Venezuela SA and resold it in the market. Swissoil Trading SA helped PDVSA to disguise the crude origin by “doping” it with chemical additives and selling it as something other than Venezuelan oil, according to documents obtained by Bloomberg. Alessandro Bazzoni, with Elemento, and Philipp Apikian, with Swissoil, were also blacklisted.

Nosedive

Venezuela's exports of oil slump since the U.S. sanctioned PDVSA
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Venezuela crude oil exports, under the Maduro regime, had nosedive at the same time that OPEC increase output. Crude shipments keeps going down. From 868,0000 barrel a day last year to only 418,857 barrels a day in February 2021, a 52% drop. Venezuela crude oil production has collapsed, slipping from second place behind Brasil to six place behind Ecuador in Latin America, and from 12 place worldwide to 30 place.
 
Sandokan said:
Progressive used Nordic countries as examples that socialism work. Nordic countries are not socialists. They practice mostly free market economics with private ownership of production, agriculture and big business, matched high taxes and capitalism to pay for generous government entitlement programs. In socialist societies the government owns most of means of production, in which the lack of a profit motive lead to inefficiency of productive resources. Workers lack incentives to produce goods, which leads to shortages and higher prices, which lead to riots and use force by the authoritarian government to suppress the demonstrations. This sound very much like the current regimes of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
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Venezuela has more private ownership than France.
 
ralphcdp said:
That is how the CIA/US governments always work.

Supporting this kind of terrorism is incredibly evil.
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Actually the hyperinflation is Maduro’s doing.
 
Frigidweirdo said:
Problem is, US interference in the region exacerbates already existing problems. It's hardly surprising that countries lurch to the left.
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Bolivia is a good example of that however Venezuela’s problems have a lot to do with Maduro.
 
Maduro seeks to speed up digital payments as Venezuela runs out of cash
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Maduro seeks to speed up digital payments as Venezuela runs out of cash | Reuters

By Corina Pons, Mayela Armas
5 MIN READ

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is pressing banks to implement digital payment systems as hyperinflation prompts chronic shortages of cash in the bolivar currency, three people familiar with the talks told Reuters.

Maduro has targeted the public transit system - where roughly three-quarters of all circulating cash is spent - as the first stage of a plan he calls “the digital bolivar.” In January, he asked banks to deliver point-of-sale terminals to the Caracas subway system and bus drivers, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

With annual inflation hitting 2,665%, long lines form many mornings outside banks in Caracas as residents seek to withdraw a maximum of 400,000 bolivars - the equivalent of 20 U.S. cents - just to pay round trip transit fare to get to work.
Click link above for full article
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As bomberfox wrote: " Actually the hyperinflation is Maduro’s doing." The currency instability in Venezuela has created hyperinflation, with an annual inflation of 2,665%, which has led to the dollarization of the economy. Venezuela currency has become useless where 400,000 bolivars are equivalent to 20 U.S. cents. Without investments in the country’s crumbling energy infrastructure, the future of the country is bleak.
 
PDVSA's refining boost leaves crude exports short of blendstocks -sources
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PDVSA’s refining boost leaves crude exports short of blendstocks – sources | Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide
Luc Cohen, Marianna Parraga

April 22, 12021

Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA (PDVSA.UL) is increasingly using its limited output of medium and light crude for refining, resulting in shortages for blending operations to produce exportable grades, seven people close to the matter said.

Petroleos de Venezuela typically utilizes most of the country's lightest crude production for blending operations for crude from the Orinoco Oil Belt, one of the world's largest oilfields by reserves.

But in the wake of debilitating, months-long shortages of motor fuels last year, PDVSA has increased refining output, and its refineries use light crudes as their principal feedstock.

That has prompted an output cut of its flagship crude grade for exports, Merey 16, which is produced by mixing tar-like extra heavy crude from the Orinoco belt with naphtha for transportation, and then diluted with lighter oil to be exported.
Click link above for full article.
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Under the Maduro regime management, PDVSA performance keeps deteriorating. Its limited output of light crude for refining, has reduce the crude grade for exports. The stock of naphtha, use to dilute crude oil, has drop more than a million barrels since January. The Orinoco Belt in April crude oil production was down 44% from January. Venezuela export of crude oil keeps going from bad to worse.
 
In Desperate Move, Venezuela Tries to Make Fuel in Oil Upgraders
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In Desperate Move, Venezuela Tries to Make Fuel in Oil Upgraders - Bloomberg

By Fabiola Zerpa
May 26, 2021, 11:18 AM PDT

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An oil tank stands at the Petropiar facility in El Tigre, Venezuela. Photographer: Bloomberg

In the latest desperate attempt to deal with fuel shortages that have crippled Venezuela’s economy, government leaders are trying to repurpose two massive oil upgraders to make a main ingredient for gasoline instead.

With U.S. sanctions preventing the country from importing naphtha, a petroleum product its refineries use as feedstock, state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela will seek to make its own at upgraders designed to process heavy crude into lighter oil for the international market, according to documents seen by Bloomberg and people with knowledge of the plan, who asked not to be named because the information isn’t public. The plants are the Petropiar partnership with Chevron Corp. and the Petrocedeno venture with Total SE and Equinor ASA.

Venezuela’s acute fuel shortage has forced businesses and factories to shut, while drivers line up for hours or even days to fill up. The conversion of the Hugo Chavez-era crude upgraders marks another dramatic departure from a time when the OPEC-founding nation was a top oil exporter, now reduced to one of the poorest nations in the Western Hemisphere under the U.S.-sanctioned Nicolas Maduro regime.
Click link above for a full article.
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The Maduro regime is in deep trouble. Oil exports fell to 593,550 barrels per day (bpd) in May as a result of an outage in its main producing region and a lack of diluents to produce exportable grades. Beside Maduro regime troubles, it exported to de Castroit regime 67,000 bdp in May, 13 bdp more than in April, while Venezuelans line up for hours or even days to fill up. The Castroit regime has the Maduro regime by the balls.
 
Sandokan said:
The Maduro regime is in deep trouble.
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Is it possible to mention, among the troubles of Venezuela, the fact that several gazillions of dollars in gold, which were in the Bank of England, were stolen from Venezuella?
 
Sandokan said:
The Maduro regime is in deep trouble. Oil exports fell to 593,550 barrels per day (bpd) in May as a result of an outage in its main producing region and a lack of diluents to produce exportable grades. Beside Maduro regime troubles, it exported to de Castroit regime 67,000 bdp in May, 13 bdp more than in April, while Venezuelans line up for hours or even days to fill up. The Castroit regime has the Maduro regime by the balls.
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"The Maduro regime is in deep trouble." Marxist and Moscow dont think so , they dont care about people , Moscow will keep supporting him like they do with Luksenka
 
Litwin said:
"The Maduro regime is in deep trouble." Marxist and Moscow dont think so , they dont care about people , Moscow will keep supporting him like they do with Luksenka
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You have a good point there.
 
Donors Pledge $1.5 Billion for Venezuelan Migrants, Humanitarian Crisis
Donors Pledge $1.5 Billion for Venezuelan Migrants, Humanitarian Crisis | World News | US News
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By Reuters | June 17, 2021, at 12:49 p.m.

(Reuters) -More than 30 countries and two development banks on Thursday pledged more than $1.5 billion in grants and loans to aid Venezuelan migrants fleeing a humanitarian crisis, as well as their host countries and vulnerable people still in the country.

The $954 million in grants announced at a donors' conference hosted by Canada - which included pledges of $407 million from the United States and C$115 million Canadian dollars ($93.12 million) from Canada - exceeded the $653 million announced at a similar event last year.

But that fell short of the needs of countries hosting the more than 5.6 million Venezuelans who have left their country since 2015, as the once-prosperous nation's economy collapsed into a years-long hyperinflationary recession under socialist President Nicolas Maduro.
Click link above for full article.
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Since 2015, around 5.6 million Venezuela refugees have left the country to escape the Maduro regime debacle. Already in February 1, 2021, more than 1.74 million Venezuelan refugees were living in Colombia alone. This is a humanitarian crisis of catastrophic proportion.
 
Sandokan said:
Since 2015, around 5.6 million Venezuela refugees have left the country to escape the Maduro regime debacle. Already in February 1, 2021, more than 1.74 million Venezuelan refugees were living in Colombia alone. This is a humanitarian crisis of catastrophic proportion.
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+1, we need 2 stop Moscow imperialism as soon as possible
 
Fledermaus said:
How is Venezuela "Russian Imperialism"?
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Russia's global influence stretches from Venezuela to Syria​

https://www.cnbc.com › 2020/02/10 › russias-global-in...



10 Feb 2020 — Russia has also supported Venezuela on the military and economic front; ... Russia has rapidly expanded its geopolitical and military ties in the ...



Putin's Russia is propping up the Maduro dictatorship in ...​

https://thehill.com › congress-blog › foreign-policy › 4...


10 Feb 2020 — Putin's Russia is propping up the Maduro dictatorship in Venezuela ... Russia is expanding its involvement in our hemisphere, spreading its ...
 
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