Some Venezuelan factoids

This painting by Matisse was stolen some years ago from the Modern Art Museum of Caracas.
Thief is, apparently, a public figure of some prominence in today's Venezuela.

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These are estimates compiled from private sources. Official figures simply do not exist or are not reliable.

· In 1999 Venezuela had 900,000 public employees. Today, there are about 2.3 million.
· The Chavez government has confiscated more than 600 ranches and farms in production.
· Venezuela has bought weapons for more than $6 billion during the last six years
· The Venezuelan currency has just been devalued in 55 percent
· Cumulative inflation during the Chavez eleven years in power is 733 percent
· GDP in 2009 declined in 2,9 percent
· The government controls 731 media organizations: TV stations, radio stations, newspapers and other.
· In 1998 4,500 Venezuelans were murdered. 19,400 were murdered in 2009.
· The Ministry of Education employs 150,000 professors on a temporary basis.
· About 4,000 Venezuelan medical doctors have left the country.
· About one million barrels of oil per day are sold in the domestic market or given to Cuba and other “friendly” countries, at highly subsidized prices.
· Only 23,000 new houses were built by the government in 2008, one third of the amount previous governments used to build.
· Over 200 collective labor contracts in the public sector have expired and have not been revised.
· Over 150,000 Venezuelans have died violently during Chavez’s years in power.
· Chavez has given or promised foreign countries about $40 billion.
· SIDOR, the steel company had losses of $54 million during 2008
· Around 5,000 Venezuelans were kidnapped in 2008, the express variety, done for low ransoms and for a few hours.
· 97 percent of all crimes are left without investigation.
· Chavez claims there have been 47 attempts on his life. No one is in prison due to these attempts.
· Chavez wrist watch cost about $60,000
· Petroleos de Venezuela, the state-owned oil company, had 35,000 employees in 1999, now close to 100,000.
· The government would have to pay some $15 billion to recently expropriated companies.
· 50 percent of Venezuelans claim to be against Chavez and against the “opposition”. You figure this one out.
· Venezuela has the highest inflation rate in the hemisphere, about 30 percent in 2009.
· Venezuela was almost self-sufficient in beef in the 1990’s. Today it imports 59 percent of its beef consumption.
· Venezuela imported 500,000 tons of sugar from Brazil during 2009.
· In 1999 national debt was $22 billion. Today it approaches $100 billion.
· PDVSA’s debt in 1999 was $2 billion. Today it is around $23 billion.
· Electricity rationing in Caracas is 12 hours per week for each zone of the city.
· 2,200 members of the military occupy positions in the state bureaucracy.
· Subsidy for gasoline in the domestic market amounts to about $15 billion per year.
· 2009 Venezuelan imports exceeded $40 billion.
· Venezuelan prisons have 12,000 beds and 32,000 inmates.
· Only 2 percent of the agricultural financing is done by the government.