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**xfiltrate** · #1 6 Aug 2017

Venezuela official: Military quashes attack at base | Daily Mail Online

In Latin America, protests and attempted coups come and go - and these are usually ignored by the Ministers of Mercosur, but not this time. ( the old see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil philosophy) see article above!

My thoughts:

Simon Bolivar, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simón_Bol%C3%ADvar
author of the Bolivanian revolution - his attempts to unify South America succeeded in ending Spanish rule and he became a South American hero -
The late President Chavez of Venezuela tried to walk in Bolivar's footsteps and with Cuban assistance - Cuban doctors/social and military assistance in exchange for oil tried to throw off the modern day corporate conquistadores.

Of course there are many points of view - reading the attached article represents only one point of view.

xfiltrate

**bkm_br** · #2 6 Aug 2017

Unfortunately Venezuela is in the verge of a civil war between the two biggest political groups and the external interference from many private groups and governments makes things even worst. Venezuela is such a beautiful place but have been plagued with political turmoil for the last century, specially after they discovered oil there. I just hope they can have the chance so solve their problems without too much external interference and doesn't become a new Ukraine in the near future.

**xfiltrate** · #3 7 Aug 2017

News from The Associated Press

xfiltrate

**Tony LEE** · #4 8 Aug 2017

Not a lot of benefit being in a Trade Bloc if you have no goods to sell and no money to buy any either

**xfiltrate** · #5 8 Aug 2017

Hey Tony, don't forget about the "Black Gold"
The economy of Venezuela is largely based on the petroleum sector and manufacturing. Revenue from petroleum exports accounts for more than 50% of the country's GDP and roughly 95% of total exports. Venezuela is the sixth largest member of OPEC by oil production.

GDP growth‎: ‎-14% (2017) GDP rank‎: ‎32nd‎ (nominal) / ‎47st‎ (PPP)
GDP per capita‎: ‎$15,891 (2015, PPP); $4,262 ... Exports‎: ‎$28.07 billion (2016 est.)

Eat , Drink and Be Careful xfiltrate

**bkm_br** · #6 8 Aug 2017

Quote:

Originally Posted by xfiltrate

Hey Tony, don't forget about the "Black Gold"
The economy of Venezuela is largely based on the petroleum sector and manufacturing. Revenue from petroleum exports accounts for more than 50% of the country's GDP and roughly 95% of total exports. Venezuela is the sixth largest member of OPEC by oil production.

Don't forget that Venezuela have the biggest oil reserve in the world thanks to the Orinoco Belt.

**Tony LEE** · #7 9 Aug 2017

Oil has to be got out of the ground to make money so the country can afford to buy basic consumer goods and essential medical goods. What is being extracted and sold must be going into private pockets because it doesn't seem to be getting to the people who need it. Manufacturing normally needs raw materials and or imported machinery and or customers with money to buy the finished goods so can't see that thriving either. GDP crashing, inflation booming, consumer confidence close to zero, crime and unrest sky-high, tourism plunging and yet the biggest oil reserves in the world. WooHoo

**bkm_br** · #8 9 Aug 2017

You are underestimating the geopolitical aspect of this discussion. Saudi Arabia for the last 3 years is flooding the oil market and bringing the oil prices to the rock bottom, this hurts not only Venezuela but also Iran and Russia as well, 3 "problematic" countries for western interests. There's also a big chunk of money from various organizations helping the opposition in Venezuela right now and be sure that they are not doing this without expect something later on. The situation in Venezuela is really complicated but have many aspects to it other then the way you get oil out of the ground. IMO the Venezuelan government made many mistakes but they are far from being the only ones responsible for this situation. Anyway, Venezuela right now is a no-no for travel in any way, let's just hope that the country doesn't became a Ukraine 2.0.

**xfiltrate** · #9 9 Aug 2017

Thank you for the very interesting comments this thread. I actually have Italian relatives, on my Mother's side, living in Maracaibo, Venezuela so I have dedicated myself to understanding contemporary Venezuela with the hopes of making my second visit to Maracaibo to visit my cousins.

Tony Lee's excellent point about oil profits going into " private pockets" reminds me of a recent photo/article depicting what the 6.5 trillion dollars might look like.

Look at the attached photo and multiply those stacks of money by 29,000 times.... $6.5 trillion missing from Defense Department

So, as redundant as this might be, Venezuela does not have a monopoly on "private pockets." The missing 6.5 trillion dollars from the US Department of Defense budget is a world class theft of the people's hard earned money collected in the form of taxes.

It is also my contention that our national credit card debt/student loan debt /mortgage debt is floating the US economy. The US credit card debt is the highest in history and the student loan debt is 620 billion dollars more than the national credit card debt. As someone has already posted " Woo Hoo"

Absent the availability of credit, I wonder about the availability of consumer goods and essential medical goods in the USA.

Venezuela might well follow, or has followed in Argentina's footsteps (Argentina's 2003 default on an IMF loan was the largest in history) I do not know the debt structure of Venezuela, but I do know that all credit has dried up and I suggest here that without credit, the economy of the USA might look Venezuelan!

Argentina and Iceland have done very well after throwing off the yoke of international loans.

As for the "various organizations" and the big chunk of money bkm_br speaks of - yes I agree there is payback expected - the CIA will see to that, and if the CIA fails, as they have so far.... thanks to Chavez, our military will simply orchestrate another shock and awe campaign and then send in the marines et al. Oorah! What a country!

xfiltrate Eat, Drink and wonder where the 6.5 trillion missing from the Department of Defense might be???

And, read the following two articles - what a country! 69% of US Americans have less than $1,000 in savings!!!

http://money.cnn.com/2017/01/12/pf/a...ngs/index.html

https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmc.../#426d03821ae6