Very few changes in the new Cabinet announced by Maduro tonight. Nelson Merentes moves to the Ministry of Finance, a post he held in 2001 and 2004. He was later President of the Venezuelan Central Bank. Giordani stays in Planning, so that Maduro went the conservative route, splitting the two Ministries. Jesse Chacón is back, as Minister for Electric Energy. He has held at least four Ministries, I lost count. He was also pollster for the Government recently, predicting a 9% Maduro win. Andres Izarra is Minister for Tourism, he is also back to a new Cabinet post. The Head of the intelligence agency SEBIN, becomes Minister of the Interior. The Minister of Health is removed and replaced by Isabel Iturria, the President of the Children’s Cardiological Hospital. And in the Ministry for Sports (picture above), the former Olympian and model Alejandra Benitez.
Maduro shows he either can’t change much or does not know how to. There is still no trained economist in the Cabinet. We thought there would be one. Merentes in Finance is probably good for the Government’s foreign exchange policy, as he is known to be more pragmatic, but bad for debt, as he is likely to restart issuing debt internationally.
The Devil's Excrement 
April 24, 2013 at 2:23 pm
Not all the same: 11 Army or ex-army ministers more
April 24, 2013 at 12:36 pm
Arena pan is what it the corn flour for arepas is called in Venezuela, probably because is looks like sand grains.
April 24, 2013 at 9:00 am
It is funny how hypocritical all the Chavez supporting countries are when they tell the US that it should not interfere with Venezuela. So far their subversiveness and espionage has amounted to flagrant and demanding statements like “we are not ready to make that decision yet” and “an audit might help clear things up and reduce tensions”. If it weren’t for the US being cautious with its recognition of the questionable election results(as is it’s right to be), I think Caprilles would already be in jail. They bullies make lots of threats, but in the end they are afraid of what the really big boys think.
If oil trade stopped, the US would have to buy 10% of its imported oil from somewhere else(probably the Saudi’s). This would probably mean an extra $1 at the pump. I think it would put the Venezuelan government out of business, as well as all sectors relying on dollars.
Reminds me of a child threatening to hold their breath.
April 24, 2013 at 7:05 am
Good luck on your new government. Still a beautiful country- wish I could visit it!
April 24, 2013 at 1:47 am
Looks like he may have gotten Sports right?
April 23, 2013 at 9:14 am
Ouch! Now they are threatening to stop taking the money that is propping up this banana socialism. What is next, will they refuse to give money to the companies that provide many of the goods the people buy. Oh yeah, they are already doing that!
I saw Venezuelan oil was down quite a bit. You should post pictures of the empty shelves in the stores and the ensuing food riots. Island Canuck: have you kept up with that grocery price comparison worksheet you published a while back?
April 23, 2013 at 1:47 pm
Yes it would be nice to see the latest food prices. Also, I wonder what the prices at the mercal are doing?
April 23, 2013 at 2:39 pm
Ok, I’ve been flojo keeping it up.
I’ll try and update all the prices this week.
What I’ve noticed on those items that I have updated that many items are up 35% or more since January.
The exception is vegetables & some price controlled items.
Example bacon up 37.1%, chicken pieces up 39.6%, eggs up 60.7%, pork chops up 62.2%, bag of large ice up 50%, Polar beer returnables up 11.7%, Vodka Absolut up 53.6%, Apples Granny Smith up 195.7%, Pringles Potato Chips up 35.9%
What this list doesn’t show is the shortages – tea, sugar, arena pan, arena de trigo, tea, margarine, meat, chicken, 100% OJ just to name a few.
I’ll try & make the whole list available later this week once I can verify all the prices.
April 23, 2013 at 7:28 pm
They import Ice TOO!?
April 24, 2013 at 3:19 am
If I remember correctly, Island Canuck lives in Margarita, which is an island that gets almost all “imported” from the mainland; so, in a way, yes, they import ice too (in Margarita).
BTW, it would be “harina PAN” (corn flour) and “harina de trigo” (wheat flour); “arena” means “sand”. 🙂
April 24, 2013 at 3:43 am
80% of the ice in Margarita is supplied by Hielo Jhonny who have a plant in Playa El Agua.
Sorry for the “harina” slip. Must have been caused by the beer shortage.
April 23, 2013 at 8:20 am
What’s happening with the typeface.
I’m seeing all sorts of different styles in Chrome.
April 23, 2013 at 10:26 am
Yeah, it’s bothering me as well, with Firefox
April 23, 2013 at 10:49 am
Internet Explorer shows wide and narrow posts, different than what we’ve seen before.
April 23, 2013 at 4:26 pm
Threaded comments exploded somehow.
April 23, 2013 at 2:54 am
Ow,
An old lady with two years of schooling as one aunt I have knows very well about opportunity costs.
Another aunt who studied, became teacher but is a Chavista – the remaining chavista of the maternal part of my family -, does NOT get opportunity cost quite well…because she is a radical. A radical here is beyond the economic-political world. It has to do with “they screwed us, they won’t do it again” (never mind my first aunt is poorer, never mind this goes across classes).
Many people understand these things, but the closer you are to the top of Chavismo politically or ideologically, the more difficult it gets…unless you are someone like Diosdado, who probably knows but thinks he can’t say anything about it less they think “the last proof you are an escuálido” (well, I don’t know even if Diosdado is capable of getting it).
Chavismo went on as in evolution. Evolution doesn’t mean progress, it means adaptation, perhaps an increase in complexity but that’s all.
At this stage Miguel is right: the most likely candidate among top chavistas to feel more compelled to get it is an economist. Being at the top of Chavismo, only a heavy education on that seems to help
Chávez mentioned at least twice publicly petrol prices should go up…and he did nothing. His honchos fear to do so. They were mostly selected by virtue of their utter loyalty to him.
You have the following parameters: {loyalty,intelligence,probity, competence for the job at hand,flexibility}
I put them without any order I might consider important.
For Hugo the sine qua non was loyalty to him, by far. You didn’t have that? You were out.
He also wanted people to believe in whatever fuzzy thing he was believing. That required inflexibility.
He surrounded himself by loyal people who would honestly believed “we” (where we are 50 or 30 or 15 years old) screwed them, that we screwed the country and so on and that they would rescue it.
Hugo might have got one or two clever people but if they were so utterly inflexible and loyal to him, they were and are not going to understand opportunity costs. Or they would, but as they are dishonest and they want to go on profiting from the status quo, they won’t do it.
Maduro is rather thick. He doesn’t have a clue about anything. He doesn’t know how to look for competent people.
April 23, 2013 at 12:19 am
Who first said that the definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over and expect different results?
Answer:
The answer isn’t really known but current consensus is that it came from the author Rita Mae Brown in her book Sudden Death on Pg. 68 from 1983.
Quote: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results.”
Most people will attribute this quote to Albert Einstein but there is no evidence to suggest that he made this statement.
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Who_first_said_that_the_definition_of_insanity_is_to_do_the_same_thing_over_and_over_and_expect_different_results
April 22, 2013 at 6:34 pm
I thought that the idea to give vouchers to each citizen to buy gasoline and electricity that offsets the some of the increased cost makes sense. The same vouchers should be applicable to public transportation and to energy efficiency products. So people without cars can benefit, and energy efficiency can be put into the mix.
April 22, 2013 at 10:29 pm
Aren’t private bus drivers and taxi drivers the ones that always protest increases in gasoline prices? What your proposing would be good for society, but if you want to address the real source of discontent it would be better to target that small group of people with discounted gasoline (at least for awhile).
April 23, 2013 at 4:28 pm
Problem with that, is that fi done incorrectly you would create a black market in seconds.
April 22, 2013 at 5:25 pm
“Merentes in Finance is probably good for the Government’s foreign exchange policy, as he is known to be more pragmatic, but bad for debt, as he is likely to restart issuing debt internationally.”
If Merentes handles the exchange rate correctly why would the government need more debt? Handling the exchange rate all probably means devaluing more, or at least selling more at the lower rates, and as a result the government would have lots more money thereby making debt unnecessary. So I’m not sure how he would simultaneously handle the exchange rate in a more pragmatic way and yet run up more debt.
Also, who would be in charge of things like deciding when to stop giving away gasoline for free? Ultimately Maduro, but of his ministers would it be Giordanni or Merents?
April 22, 2013 at 5:55 pm
He will not do it “correctly” as long as Giordani is there, so he will be more pragmatic, but will likely use a combination of a higher rate, but not sufficiently high, with more flow, while issuing bonds to provide PDVSA (or the Government) with more cash flow. PDVSA needs to move out 2014 maturities, some sort of offering with exchange might be what they need. The problem is the black marker at four times the official rate. There are not enough dollars to bring it down, unless you sell bonds to temper the insatiable demand at those levels. A US$ 3 billion issue could do the trick. tHe alternative? Devalue CADIVI, SICAD to mid-teen levels or so, neither Merentes, nor Giordani is ready for that (I think)
I dont see free gasoline going away, nor free electric rates (13 years at the same level) going away either, any economist with rudimentary knowledge of economics, independent of ideology, would do something about it, but neither of them has that knowledge. I was hoping an economist would come n, no such luck.
April 22, 2013 at 8:43 pm
First, you don’t necessarily have to be an economist to understand things like “opportunity costs” and that giving away gasoline and electricity for free starves the government of money that is really needed for other things. In fact most Venezuleans would understand it if it were properly explained to them rather than continuously being lied to about it by politicians on all side.
Second, and this is key, is that Maduro has to know that “conservative” or the status quo simply won’t cut it. Without some significant accomplishments under their belts they are almost guaranteed to lose the next elections. No matter what rhetoric he puts out I really can’t believe that Maduro doesn’t know that. He must. Maybe he will make policies more radical. Maybe he will make them more “pragmatic”. Whatever. But what he can’t do is keep things as they are.
Actual events could prove me wrong but I would really expect to see some significant changes in policies over the next 6 months.
April 22, 2013 at 10:13 pm
There are no solutions on the radical side, unless you mean as radical as east Germany or Stalinist Russia (work or die, ration coupons, etc.) Otherwise all the solutions lie on the pragmatic side and include pricing signals, private sector involvement and competition.
April 22, 2013 at 6:09 pm
Pragmatic in the sense he’ll actually attempt to supply enough currency for domestic producers, non-pragmatic in the sense that in doing so he will run up more debt.
Correctly handling the exchange rate would mean a massive devaluation, based on reserve ratios a devaluation to at least 20 bolivars to the dollar. That’s not going to happen.
As to “selling more at lower rates and as a result the government would have lots more money,” WHAT?????. Selling more at lower rates simply increases the governments loss, exchanging a valuable thing for a less valuable thing. The only way foreign exchange becomes profitable for the government is if it devalues so much that the currency is undervalued, a la China. Never ever going to happen in Venezuela.
The way you’re presenting it reminds me of the old joke: “We lose money one each unit, but we make it up in volume”
April 22, 2013 at 6:31 pm
There are no dollars to sell “more”
April 22, 2013 at 7:14 pm
Since oil is paid for in dollars, I don’t get why they don’t just give up bolivars. Then inflation would reflect the cost of goods sold (2-3%) and not the ever increasing government spending(20-30%). Low inflation means people can actually save money, which means more middle class.
April 22, 2013 at 10:20 pm
You answered your own question. Chavismo will never dollarize because it would mean a growing middle class and a loss of control.
April 22, 2013 at 8:36 pm
I worded it incorrectly but I meant devalue so that the government gets more Bolivares for its dollars which as we all know gives the government more money.
April 22, 2013 at 10:09 pm
OK, that makes sense.
April 22, 2013 at 11:00 pm
April 23, 2013 at 11:43 am
That’s quite an inflation rate. If things keep up like that people will be very angry shortly, but the government can’t afford to increase wages.
April 22, 2013 at 3:06 pm
Musical chairs, again and again
April 22, 2013 at 1:59 pm
Maduro acknowledged many times that there were persistent problems that were not handled well enough by the revolution. He promised to do things “better” in some way. This cabinet, however, doesn’t give me much hope. For example, Giordani remains the minister of Economy & Finance.
Einstein was quoted: “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Maduro just might be insane enough to finish off the economy for good!
April 22, 2013 at 1:06 pm
I don’t accept the Maduro government as valid or legal. To me there is nothing to be gained by discussing the new cabinet appointments of an illegal government.
April 22, 2013 at 2:45 pm
I agree. They should be packing instead of floundering around in their self made cesspool.
The opposition better take a firmer stand on the audit, and keep pounding away in the media about the violations and documented cheating. If allowed to complete the “checkup” of the system as it is now called and adjust accordingly, chavismo will blast the opposition for even questioning the results from the most perfect system in the world. Then they will go on full attack to demand justice for the 8 fatalities that they claimed the opposition was responsible for post election.
If you don’t keep the obvious vote violations fresh in the media, the international community will lose interest and eventually will recognize maduro. They will soon have the feeling that if the opposition accepts it, why should we care and not accept it?
Go big or go home.
April 22, 2013 at 2:50 pm
Just as it is getting late to complain about an unfair election, it is past any deadlines to prosecute the opposition for the deaths of 8 people who no details have been given about their deaths or who they are.
April 22, 2013 at 3:36 pm
There is no timeline for the people in charge. They are still targeting Leopoldo for “corruption” from 10 years back (not sure of the exact date).
April 23, 2013 at 3:55 am
Do you have proof of the fault of the opposition committing those murders?
How ’bout you read this:
http://www.eluniversal.com/sucesos/130419/capturan-a-uno-de-los-responsables-de-doble-homicidio-en-la-limonera
From the article: “Deudos de los fallecidos aseguraron, en versiones ofrecidas a los medios de comunicación en la morgue de Bello Monte, que los hechos nada tuvieron que ver con las protestas que se hicieron tras convocatoria a cacerolazos en casa.” In other words, the deaths had nothing to do with the protests.
Or this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/17/world/americas/post-election-tensions-rise-in-venezuela-amid-deadly-protests.html?ref=americas&_r=0
ANd it is not late to complain, as it already has been. By law anybody that wants to has 15 business days to file a complaint, which the MUD has, in writing.
So stop re-gurgitating that which they feed you and start thinking for your self.
Open your eyes and see. Stop being a pendejo
April 23, 2013 at 6:46 am
On the contrary, there is evidence that the opposition had absolutely nothing to do with those incidents. That is not the point…As anyone here knows, it does not have to be true to make the claim and enforce it when you control all aspects of the judiciary system. Their goal is to discredit, disqualify, and in any way keep the opposition on their heels. The one thing that you can count on is these guys are predictable.
April 23, 2013 at 7:37 am
Not sure about where these end up, but my comment was directed at Ronaldo. Porsia.
April 22, 2013 at 7:54 am
El mismo musiu con diferente ca-chimboou (de ca y chimbo)
April 22, 2013 at 7:16 am
Conservative in the sense of no change.
April 22, 2013 at 5:27 am
Where did Giordani go? Thx
April 22, 2013 at 7:22 am
He was minister of Finance and Planning, now onlt Planning
April 22, 2013 at 4:32 am
I like this from you post: “We thought there would be one. Merentes in Finance is probably good for the Government’s foreign exchange policy, as he is known to be more pragmatic…..”. However I do not get what do you mean by good for foreign exchange policy…..
April 22, 2013 at 7:22 am
I mean better, more realistic, less distortions. More flexibility.
April 22, 2013 at 8:20 am
and certainly… more bonds..
You may bet Merentes will issue soon some sort of new bonds
April 22, 2013 at 12:17 am
BTW, Miguel, I want your opinion on this:
http://www.el-nacional.com/estrategia/EE-UU-despide-petroleo-venezolano_0_173382890.html
April 21, 2013 at 11:32 pm
BTW this is not a conservative cabinet?? I don’t understand why you guys are labeling Maduro and their team as conservatives, when they are clearly SOCIALIST/COMMUNIST/FASCIST, but I don’t see any libertarian/conservatives right?
April 22, 2013 at 12:24 am
Conservative in this sense means the status quo, not taking risks, keeping things the way they are. Conservation of the status quo as opposed to shaking things up.
April 22, 2013 at 7:21 am
Exactly
April 21, 2013 at 11:28 pm
Well the news in Venezuela is that there is no news! that’s practically the same team of the past 14 years. Which means that there will be no substantial change of policies.
I honestly don’t see how Maduro will honor his promises of more efficiency and less corruption. If that were truth then we should have seen new faces in the cabinet, and a new set of policies.
So that’s it… really! there is no news, same old same old…
April 21, 2013 at 11:01 pm
Issue debt? With the legitimacy of the government in question? Who is going to buy?
April 22, 2013 at 2:18 am
Put a sufficient enough interest on it, and you’ll get vultures in very quickly. It’s questionable how long Venezuelan finances can stand ~100% interest rate, but it’s a short term fix, the very best Chavizmo can hope for.
April 21, 2013 at 10:58 pm
Actually, she and the new Minister of Health are probably the most qualified for their positions in terms of knowing the subject.
April 22, 2013 at 12:12 am
I don’t think they were chosen because of their knowledge on the subject but because of their loyalty; case in point, Francis Terán, one of the very few ministers of chavizmo I actually thought was right for the sports ministry, and she was fired because she went to work after the 2002 events. She said she went to work as usual because she wanted to calm down the people at the ministry, and because, unless told differently by the national assembly or the supreme court, or a new government back-up by them, Chávez was still president and she was still minister. Kinda “buisness as usual” approach.
April 21, 2013 at 10:52 pm
Awfully conservative-lookin revolution you got there