Chavez’ CELAC shindig is over and it went well for Hugo, attendance was better than expected, while everyone thought Dilma will show up, they weren’t sure about others like Felipe Calderon of Mexico and Piñera of Chile.
But beware of visitors coming to a Summit they don’t believe in. They always do at a price and there were some very nice winners for attending.
The biggest winner was the President of Mexico Felipe Calderon. He got Chavez to pay US$ 1 billion for nationalized Cemex Venezuela to Cemex, Mexico’s premier international company, which has been having financial problems due to the construction crisis all over the place. I noted this in the previous article.
But Calderon had another card up his sleeve, he managed to have Chavez reverse the nationalization of Gruma’s Monaca and turn it into two joint ventures with the Venezuelan Government to produce flour, rice, pasta and oatmeal. Not a bad change of terms for Gruma, as it places a long term bet that things may change in Venezuela.
Cemex probably preferred the money with US$ 15 billion in debt coming due in 2014.
Finally, Chavez signed a deal with Brazil’s Dilma Roussef to buy 20 jets built by Embraer, Brazil’s airplane company. Now, Embraer is a private company, formerly Government owned, trades in New York and while it is true the Brazilian Government owns a symbolic golden share, this is not the type of deal that President’s get involved in, unless…
Venezuela was dealig with Embraer and Dilma just gave the whole thing a little push at the end.
It is indeed a strange revolution. It pays money to its natural enemies in the region to gain favors. It pays high interest rates to capitalists and it gives preference to foreigners over Venezuelans. Just today, it gave a nice “windfall” to holders of Fertinitro bonds, much like it did with PDVSA, CITGO, EDC, Petrozuata and Cerro Negro before. If it fits the goals of the revolution, the money is there to pay for it.
Nothing says a revolution has to have scruples.
The Devil's Excrement 
April 17, 2012 at 2:13 am
[…] anwenden… / Moscow Times: Unterstützung von Putin / Carlos Latuff in Global Voices sowie The Devil’s Extrement: auch Dilma und Chavez stärken Assad / Kianoush, Paris: …der die Uno erfolgreich täuscht / […]
December 7, 2011 at 10:42 pm
What else can you expect, power corrupts and more power corrupts more, there will be more of this regardless who wields power, as long as we worship power. To change this attitude is a herculean and thankless task, certainly none of the powers that be, is interested in changing the system. It takes a collective realization, that this path does not serve the public, but people in many countries are happy with the crumbs from the banquet table of the powerful.
December 7, 2011 at 7:47 pm
Sorry for being frustrated.Guess I am not quite
in the “holiday spirit” yet..
Everyone, I urge you to contact other Venezuelans
and prepare to vote. OMG, each day seems like an
eternity and so much money wasted every day.
More lies and another fake smiling Chavez betraying
the country again..
December 7, 2011 at 8:31 pm
I’ve said it a few times before: HC is the biggest “vende patria” Venezuela has seen, in its entire history.
December 7, 2011 at 7:36 pm
Tarek el Assimi is a worthless dirtbag. Nicholas Madura everytime he speaks he has nothing to say but lies but he says them anyway.
I could go on forever writing what a sorry bunch they are -to the end of time. They have no meaning in this world except to be near and serve Chavez’s insanity.
Oh, Ramirez and Giordano and all the rest too.
Liars and damn liars, piece of trash. Traitors.
I want to hear it one more time- all of them come out and swear
their loyalty to Fidel Castro. Castro needs them Venezuela does not.
I certainly hope a new President is allowed to be elected -someone the
people can truly love and believe in and in time Venezuela can be restored.
I need to believe there is a chance..to keep me from being a very angry
SOB. I’m waiting…
December 7, 2011 at 7:24 pm
Someone should inform “el pueblo”-all those billions Chavez
has borrowed and made disappear-are not coming back
to Venezuela. (If that doesn’t “take your breath away” I don’t
know what will?)
Explain to me how anyone with a half a brain can reconcile
these facts with their “love affair” with Chavez?
How can anyone say “Oh, I don’t care” ?
Is it really the case that they don’t know?
Or, peoplejust dont’ have a heart anymore, zombies?
December 7, 2011 at 4:50 pm
Venezulean students should storm Chavez goverment’s offices.
How?
Ask the Iranian students who are the experts.
December 7, 2011 at 2:21 pm
And the new Simon Bolivar mausoleum will be built by an Spanish company…
Faveton y Lavaal Ibérica have result sucessful tenderers for the construction of the Simon´s Bolivar Mausoleum´s building envelop, that will be built in the city of Caracas. The two spanish companies will provide the substructure and the outside skin of the monument, that will house the mortal remains of the famous venezuelan.
December 7, 2011 at 2:37 am
Seen this?
http://www.eluniversal.com/economia/111207/chavez-anuncia-nuevo-petrobono-un-fondo-especial-y-otra-filial-para-pd
December 6, 2011 at 10:53 pm
Congrats on the use of the term “shindig.”
The Javascript you’ve got going on (snowflakes?) is really annoying, it makes the page look like it has mal de sambito. Can you look into it?
December 7, 2011 at 1:13 am
Thanks. I thought there was something wrong with my eyes.
Chavez must have some clue that he’s about to lose big to Exxon. Now we wants a friendly chat with them. ha ha
December 6, 2011 at 8:31 pm
What a tragedy!, this government is destroying the venezuela future, every week he shows up with a new idea to screw the venezuelan people, and nobody does anything about it, all our money is throw away to foreigners, he is the biggest traitor in our history.
I feel very bad, I feel that I’m being robbed when this happens.
December 6, 2011 at 9:22 pm
Jose, you are being robbed; 1/Nth of it is yours (where N equal number of citizens). Sorry, *was* yours.
—
December 6, 2011 at 6:14 pm
If you owned the world’s largest supply of oil (Orinoco), people would come to your conference too.
December 6, 2011 at 7:12 pm
In reference towhy Dilma came, note Mr. Coronel’s article about
PDVSA -and Petrobras new refinery project in NE Brazil.
Petrobras-60% and PDVSA 40%. PDVSA doesn;t have the
money and used borrowed money from China to make a
downpayment on the 40% they will have to cough up.
This project is “all for Brazil” in my opinion…
December 6, 2011 at 5:24 pm
Alexander, I think you’re misreading Miguel. Brazil doesn’t sell planes, Embraer does. Brazil doesn’t build bridges, Odebrecht does, and so on and so forth.
Lula previously and now Dilma are, as a matter of fact, acting as sales reps for private Brazilian companies. Indeed crony capitalism.
As far as I can make out, Miguel is saying that Dilma imposed the condition of purchasing planes to come. Calderon may have done the same. And Santos? Well, that mofo has been leveraging his meetings with Chavez to favor Colombian business since day one, much like his predecessor, AND at the detriment of the peace and welfare of his own people. Mind you, attendance was good? Of course it was, everyone and the bloody cat wants to do deals with Chavez.
And the irony of it all is that what is perceived in some quarters as the “unacceptable face of capitalism” is getting paid handsomely by Chavez, who is meant to be anti capitalism. The Koch brothers, for instance, are laughing all the way to the bank today thanks to Chavez.
December 6, 2011 at 5:52 pm
Isn’t it done similarly in the US? By the same token, the US doesn’t sell planes, General Dynamics does…, and yet, these sales are “regulated” to such extent that they happen (or not) thru government-level deals not thru deals held between private persons of both parties.
December 6, 2011 at 9:03 pm
I understand that you did not read all my posts, what you wrote are no my words., have a read my posts again, I will be here…..
December 6, 2011 at 3:20 pm
Si, pero esto fue medio chantaje, Dilma no podia ir al Celac, pareciera la condicion fue comprame los avioncitos, eso no pasa sino en este Gobierno.
December 6, 2011 at 9:01 pm
I understand, I think we have lost the thread, so we are now in a speculative terrain. I cannot comment about what Dilma is thinking about Chavez, she is fulfilling her duties, is selling planes. My worries here are corruption, I understand the cronyism, and Dilma is part of it, let’s put the eye in the probability of bribes and so on, Brazil is a “cloaca” of corrupted politicians and businessmen.
December 6, 2011 at 1:56 pm
My only point is that Chavez and Rouseff dont have to sign a deal, Conviasa can buy the airplanes directly with Embraer without a “deal” being made, unless there were competitors and that is where Dilma came in.
December 6, 2011 at 2:29 pm
Wrong, moctavio, the golden share implies some other obligations, you might have to consider “crony capitalism” usual in brazilian capitalism from Getulio Vargas onwards, which brought all those “ideas” more than sixty years ago. People called it before “corporative capitalism”, but the correct defionition is “crony capitalism,”, a class of captialism profuso around the world. Wikipedia could hel you into crony capitalism, I think.
December 6, 2011 at 2:43 pm
Yes, but buying airplanes does not require negotiation between Governments unless one says: “I will go to Celac if you close the deal oin planes” which is all that I am saying.
December 6, 2011 at 2:56 pm
I agree if you arte buying bananas, but not planes….
December 6, 2011 at 3:05 pm
Only in Banana Republics 🙂
December 6, 2011 at 3:17 pm
Let’s put some order, Brazil sells planes, Chavez buys them; no the other way around, it is clear that Dilma was looking for a customer for planes, Additionally, nobody knows what kind of restrictions are there, the plane markets is full of restrictions, there are sensitive technologies, Embraer sells planes in America, I believe that Dilma (Brazilian government) has an important role on it. Brazilian government is prepared to finance too, crony capitalism, Brazilian bran made…..it has been always like that.
December 6, 2011 at 1:39 pm
Octavio, regarding Brazil (private, public, or both) corporations, your assumptions are flawed and wrong; Brazilian private corporations are doing tremendous business with Chavez for many years, all these companies are private. Odebretch, for example is the emblematic one, private firm, is doing everything, houses, bridges, underground (metro), roads, electricity networks, etc. The private companies selling weaponry are doing very well too There are many others, meet, milk, oil, etc., private Brazilians producers which have used Lula’s influence in Chavez to make good business at the cost of closing down of many private Venezuelan companies. It is not rare, that the crony capitalism inaugurated by Lula have done good business for them and for the politicians behind these contracts. I understand that our antichavismo could blind us for some moments.
AG