WikiLeaks: Money is running out for Venezuela

Venezuela’s tottering economy is forcing Hugo Chávez to make deals with foreign corporations to save his socialist revolution from going broke.

The Venezuelan president has courted European, American and Asian companies in behind-the-scenes negotiations that highlight a severe financial crunch in his government.

Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, PDVSA, is the engine of the economy but buckled when given an ultimatum by its Italian counterpart and has scrambled to attract foreign partners, according to confidential US embassy cables released by WikiLeaks.

The memos depict an unfolding economic fiasco and suggest some of Chávez’s key allies – Argentina, Brazil and Cuba – are gravely concerned at Venezuela’s direction. “President Chávez, for his part, is acutely aware of the impact the country’s general economic trajectory has had on his popularity,” says one cable.

WikiLeaks: la revolución se queda sin dinero

ND.- De acuerdo con cables confidenciales enviados desde la Embajada de los Estados Unidos en Caracas y otras capitales, PDVSA estaría atravesando una delicada situación financiera que haría peligrar su capacidad para financiar el Socialismo del Siglo XXI del presidente Chávez. Así lo recoge una nota en The Guardian.

Según lo dicho por altos ejecutivos de empresas petroleras de varios países, inclusive Cuba estaría seriamente preocupada. “El embajador de los Estados Unidos en La Habana reportó que el gobierno de Castro, que depende de manera significativa del apoyo financiero de Venezuela, se mostraba inquieto sobre la salud financiera de de su benefactor. ‘La posición de los franceses es que Venezuela ‘está en llamas”, lo que representa un seria preocupación para Cuba.”