Monday, February 10, 2020

Venezuela vira 180º

A Venezuela de Maduro parece estar no caminho para se tornar, não apenas mais liberal economicamente do que a Venezuela de Chavez, mas até mais do que a Venezuela pré-chavista.

To Survive, Venezuela’s Leader Gives Up Decades of Control Over Oil, por Anatoly Kurmanaev and Clifford Krauss, no New York Times:

After decades of dominating its oil industry, the Venezuelan government is quietly surrendering control to foreign companies in a desperate bid to keep the economy afloat and hold on to power. (...)

In effect, a stealth privatization is taking place, said Rafael Ramírez, who ran Venezuela’s oil industry for more than a decade before breaking with Mr. Maduro in 2017, in a video address this week.

“Today, Pdvsa doesn’t manage our oil industry, Venezuelans don’t manage it,” said Mr. Ramírez. “In the middle of the chaos generated by the worst economic crisis suffered by the country in its history, Maduro is taking actions to cede, transfer and hand over oil operations to private capital.” (...)

And there are indications that Mr. Maduro’s government wants to take the underhand liberalization further, even rolling back the watershed nationalization of the oil industry that took place in the 1970s.

A group of lawmakers installed at the head of the National Assembly by Mr. Maduro in January — amid an international outcry — has proposed changing energy laws to allow greater private investment.

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