As someone who does business with Venezuela they have all the attributes to be a functioning economy, decent natural resources, good population to be educated and work, 2 excellent port cities on major trade route, they use to have enouhg banking connections for commerce. Chavez came to power claiming socialist ideals but basically was a money and power grab for the elites and the rest of the country was shit upon with no power. When oil hit $170 a barrell they had untold riches coming in which was squandered on corruption so when oil dunked to $30 they cried poverty when it was only the dictatorship that was hurting since they already fucked the common people. Cuba has access to more products with an embargo than Venezuela where people wait on line to buy groceries. Why? Because the government is so corrupt they heavily control the flow of currency in and out of the country and tax it so people cannot conduct business with the world. I can no longer sell to customers because the government takes 7 months to approve fx exchange for U.S. dollars. People had to go buy dollars on the black market at huge premiums. In Cuba I exchanged dollars at any bank I wanted to, only issue was U.S. dollars paid a tax but Euros didn't. Panama opened the border so that people can cross to go shopping for food and toilet paper and return back. Many of you with little knowledge are painting this as socialism and how bad it is. Putting aside any discussion on what socialism does, this was a pure dictatorship like we have seen in many Latin American countries. There was nothing socialistic about it. They are no more socialistic than Iraq was under Saddam. Rather than fart out the cliches you were force fed, or google ONE article and cite it as your authority, do some deep research. Venezuela has to be the poorest oil producing country in the world, except for the top 1% who run the country. Several of my customers moved to Panama or Colombia just to have access to dollars and freedom to conduct their business.
You have to have your head up your ass to think this had nothing to do with socialism. It is a dictatorship now, but it started as socialism. That is undisputed. I suppose you will argue that the socialism in Venezuela failed because the wrong people were in charge. From an article in Forbes YESTERDAY.. Market Ponders The End Of Venezuela's Failed Socialist Project https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrap...zuelas-failed-socialist-project/#4467bb5ce166
"Other than Cuba, Nicaragua, and Bolivia, no country in the Americas recognizes his presidency." The U.S. actually lagged other countries in recognizing Juan Guaido, president of the Venezuelan National Assembly, as the top democratically elected leader of the country.
And the "lagging" behind is not all bad. It is well established that Maduro's consistent rallying cry to Venezuelans is that all his problems are caused by the Gringos trying to overthrow him. That argument is weakened when we let OAS states take the lead.
Yes. Some modern and classic pop, rock, classic R&B, etc. I play with some very good musicians and this guy stands out.
I think it will probably happen anyway. With our involvement, Maduro will blame us for his problems, just like Chavez did. We'll see what happens.