Mr. Maduro's lack of shame and self-respect

Venezuela asks fellow OPEC members for help

Yousef Gamal El-Din | @youseftv

4 Hours AgoCNBC.com

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro resumed his tour of oil producers in the Middle East on Monday, as the country seeks protection from plummeting oil prices.

The head of state visited the Saudi capital of Riyadh, where he met with the country's Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz and oil minister Ali Al-Naimi. Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, who is still recovering from a bout of pneumonia contracted last month, did not attend.

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Mr. Maduro is seeking help from OPEC countries. He is traveling to several countries, including China, Russia and the OPEC member countries asking for support for his regime, which is near bankruptcy. But the question that has to be asked Mr. Maduro is: “Why did you and your predecessor give away so much free oil and cash to ideological friends all over the planet and continue doing so? Why did you squandered the oil income the country received during the last 15 years? Why did you follow a policy of handouts to the poor instead of applying structural remedies against poverty? You and the deceased Mr. Chavez acted as if money would never run out. And when it started to run out you began to borrow from China to keep your disorderly style of life.
As a result about 1.6 trillion dollars of total national income, 1999-2014, have largely evaporated. Poverty is as horrendous as always.  The country is now some $200 billion in debt, particularly to China but also to Italy, Japan and oil companies such as Chevron. There are no less than 17 pending,  international legal claims against the regime which could mount to some $10-12 billion. The price of oil, the only source of Venezuelan foreign currency, is down 60% from what it was only six months ago. The country keeps supplying some 250,000 barrels per day of subsidized oil to its ideological friends and political satellites. Domestic gasoline prices keep at a few cents per gallon, the cheapest in the world. The country is the most corrupt in Latin America and the second most violent, an evidence of poor governance.  

And still  Mr. Maduro has the gall to ask other countries for financial help! It is no surprise that, so far, he has only received negative answers in all countries visited. .