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Venezuela Central
News about the ongoing Venezuelan election and
related information as it pertains to the local oil industry
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(Wash. Post) – As Chavez’s health teeters, uncertainty grips Venezuela
Thursday 6/14/12 (CNBC) – Why Venezuelas Enormous Reserves Are Irrelevant
“The issue is not what’s in the ground and commerciable, rather how quickly it can be put into production and so long as there’s no capital flowing into the upstream in Venezuela, especially capital by the companies that have the technology to develop the heavy oil reserve base, the resource levels are going to remain kind of irrelevant,” he added.
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(BBC) Chavez & Capriles Set for Election Battle
Tuesday 6/12/12 (Wash. Post) – Chavez exhibits energy as he launches re-election bid
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(Morning Star) – An Englishman in Venezuela :
[Morning Star is a communist run paper in Britain, which shares its’ views
on Chavez’ nationalization program. A frightening read! ]
(BeyondBRICS) Venezuela’s Dollar Crunch
(AP) Chavez : My Health is “Absolutely Fine”
Sunday 6/10/12 (AP) – Capriles Leads Massive Caracas Rally to Formally Launch Candidacy
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(LAHT) – Venezuelan Bolivar Falls Sharply, Now at 9.25/dollar
(BusinessWeek) – World Bank’s Zoellick : Chavez Days Numbered
Friday 6/8/12 (Bloomberg) – Chavez Government : Zoellick Belongs to the ‘Necrophilic Right-Wing’
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Thursday 6/7/12 (Bloomberg) – Bolivar’s Value Against the Dollar Continues to Plummet
(Petroleum World) – PdVSA has NOT been paid for 43% of oil produced in 2011
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Wednesday 6/6/12 (Reuters) – Venezuela ‘Poll Wars’
(Peter Bohmer) – Venezuela : The Revolution Continues (A Leftist POV)
(Slate) – Wanna Beat Hugo Chavez? A MUST READ Historical Primer
(Reuters) Venezuela Inflation Picks up in May, Annualized now at 22.6%
Nelson Bocaranda : Chavez Housing ‘Mission’ a complete bust, only 16,387 homes built
The Ten Commandments : How to Interfere With the Capriles Campaign
Tuesday 6/5/12 (Reuters) – ‘Virtual’ Chavez Campaigns for Re-election
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Little Bear Exclusive : A contact of mine in Argentina with knowledge of the situation tells me a large E&P firm with interests in South America is poking around PetroDelta and doing their own due diligence in case the existing talks with the exclusive buyer falls apart
(BusinessWeek) – Turkey Preparing Oil for Housing Deal with Venezuela
Monday 6/4/12 (Reuters) – A Must Read Column by Robert Campbell on Venezuela
“Many foreign oil companies are already happy to work under the current legal structure. And not just Chinese firms seeking resources, but also Western investors. In private, executives say some of the biggest problems they face are simple government approvals, and PDVSA’s own cash shortfalls. “
Exclusive : Spanish Paper ABC Confirms Chavez Suffers from Rhabdomyosarcoma,
Chavez Taking Fentanyl, Corticosteroids to control pain
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Bloomberg Story – Harvest Pares Losses on Dan Rather Chavez Report
Wednesday 5/30/12 (HD Net) – EXCLUSIVE – Dan Rather : Chavez’ Cancer is Rhabdomyosarcoma, and it has ‘Entered the End Stage’
5/20/12 (AFP) – Chavez Defies Health Scare with 4 hour TV Appearance
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Tuesday 5/29/12 (Miami Herald) – Latest Poll #s: Chavez 50 Capirles 45;
Tied at 49% each if Chavez still has cancer by election day
Monday 5/28/12 – (USA Today) PDVSA is Bloated, Falling Apart Under Chavez Rule
(LatinosPost) Chavez May Declare Candidacy Via Internet; Polls a Very Mixed Bag
Stanley Holland : Harvest Will Probably Double In a Couple of Months
Venezuelan Reference Price of Oil Basket Bloomberg Price of Basket
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(Reuters) Venezuelans in the Dark About Chavez’ Health
(Business Week) In Depth review of Upcoming Venezuelan Elections
Thursday 5/24/12 – (Bernama) Chavez reappears on Political Scene in Live TV Event
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(Reuters) Venezuela Expands Chinese Oil for Loan Deal to $8 Billion
Tuesday 5/22/12 – (CSM) – Chavez re-election: Many Venezuelan voters are undecided
“Talk to pro-Capriles people and they tell you their candidate is down only 4 to 5 points, and it can be made up by the race. Talk to pro-Chavez people and they tell you the enthusiasm is just not there among the Chavista rank and file any more, and they are worried.”
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Friday 5/18/12 – (Reuters) – Analysis : How Chavez’ Cancer Could Shape Venez. Vote
(Reuters) Chavez back in Caracas Yet Stays Out of Sight For Entire Week
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Monday 5/14/12 – (Reuters) Venezuela challenger woos Chavez’s rural heartland
(GlobalPost) In Venezuela’s prisons, inmates are the wardens
Carlos Alberto Montaner – an excellant Blog with a focus on Chavez & socialism
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Friday 5/11/12 – (Canada.com) – “Subversive” Crossword Stirs Venezuela
Thurs 5/10/12 – China, Venezuela Agree to Pay off $12b loan with 230,000 bpd/3 years
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Monday 5/7/12 – AFP – Chavez reelection bid in doubt
Monday 5/7/12 – Bloomberg – Chavez Cancer Fight Ignites PDVSA Bond Rally
LA Herald Tribune – List of Venezuela-related Blogs/news sites
Sunday 5/6/12 – Maru Angarita, local blogger, documents Chavez’
environmental crimes against his own people
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Friday 5/4/12 – Reuters – Talk of Chavez Cancer Rattles Venezuelans
“The best-known, columnist and radio talk-show host Nelson Bocaranda, said this week that Chavez had plunged into depression over bad news on his prognosis, and was suffering severe pain from both the treatment and the spreading disease…
…In his latest column, Bocaranda said radiotherapy in Cuba had caused a fracture in Chavez’s femur. The journalist said a photo of Chavez’s arrival in Cuba on Monday was carefully staged to avoid showing a wheelchair and walking stick…
…While polls put Chavez ahead of Capriles, they also show the opposition candidate would likely beat any of the president’s main allies if they were to stand instead of their boss.”
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Thurs 5/3/12 – AFP – Ailing Chavez Forms (Transitional) Political Council
“Everyone knows the president’s health is delicate, so his setting up the Council of State now cannot be good news,” political analyst John Magdaleno told AFP. “It might be used as a potential transition body, or in case the president becomes incapacitated and cannot work, or to prepare some extraordinary measures,” he added.
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Wed 5/2/12 – CNN In Depth Report : Chavez health problems plunge Venezuela’s future into doubt (A Must Read Primer)
“Press accounts, though, by a handful of correspondents who say they have access to the medical records or to people connected with the case, paint a grim prognosis…According to these reports, thought to be reliable but which CNN has been unable to verify, Chavez’s illness — initially diagnosed as prostate cancer in January 2011 — has spread to his colon and other internal organs and to some bones.“
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Monday 4/30/12 – AP – Pro-Chavez gangs tolerated, rule turf in Venezuela
“Closed-circuit cameras stare down from lampposts, allowing a heavily armed gang to keep watch over those who dare to enter one of Caracas’ most violent slums. At night, the gunmen cover their faces with ski masks and set up checkpoints, brandishing pistols and ordering residents to identify themselves as they enter the neighborhood…”
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Friday 4/27/12 – Bloomberg – PDVSA 2015 Bond Rally Sends Yields to Record Low
Friday 4/27/12 – WSJ – Chavez’s Grab at Severance Benefits Roils Venezuelan Workers
“CARACAS—Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, who can usually count on a well-honed populist touch, may have made a misstep recently as he prepares to rewrite the country’s labor law in May…..Among the various revisions the leftist leader is considering, his proposal to expand government control over severance benefits has roiled the country’s workers, in the public and private sectors, and sent Venezuelan officials backpedaling….The details of Mr. Chavez’s plans are sketchy but would involve pulling the rainy day money from individual trust accounts in banks and creating a state-managed fund.
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◊◊◊ Chavez ‘cheat sheet’ – a one year timeline of his cancer ◊◊◊
Chavez Allies Contemplating Election Without Him, Tal Cual Says
WHAT GLOBAL STOCK MARKET IS THE BEST PERFORMING YEAR TO DATE?
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Tuesday 4/24/12 – Bloomberg – S. Korea Says It Plans $11.14 Billion Projects in Venezuela
Tuesday 4/24/12 – Reuters – Chavez Sends Video Postcard from Cuba
Nelson Bocaranda (runrun.es) : Chavez Declines to undego 4th operation; split opinion on the matter between Brazilian and Cuban doctors (Spanish)
“Chavez no longer travels to Cuba for chemotherapy [ rather to keep up with] different doses of drugs that seek to ease pains of several metastases ” (Google Translate)
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Monday 4/23/12 – Bloomberg – Chavez Allies Deny Mortality Rumors
Venezuelan Bonds 2nd Best Perf. Emerging Market Bond for 2012
Monday 4/23/12 – José Rafael Marquina : Chavez has leiomyosarcoma (Spanish)
Wikipedia : Leiomyosarcoma
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Thursday 4/19/12 – Cath. News Agency – Retired Bishop Calls on Huga Chavez to Repent
Thursday 4/19/12 – Reuters Ex-Supreme Court justice says Venezuela manipulates courts; Flees to Costa Rica and speaks with DEA; Potential for US charges against Venezuelan authorities
Thursday 4/19/12 – WSJ – US Interviewing Fmr. Venezuelan Justice
“They are going to squeeze this guy for everything they can get,” – Unnamed US Official
“Mr. Aponte also said he was called by Mr. Chávez himself to make sure that a number of Colombian peasants alleged to be paramilitary fighters in 2004 were found guilty of plotting to assassinate Mr. Chávez. Mr. Chávez pardoned the men three years later. “
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Tuesdsay April 17th, 2012 – Reuters Venezuela’s Election Battle : Chavez vs Chavez
Reuters – Chavez Battles Re-Election Hurtle : Inflation
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Sunday April 15th, 2012 – BusinessWeek Chavez’s Cancer Forces Him to Miss Summit
“Nelson Bocaranda, a journalist who often reports on the president’s health in the absence of official statements, said yesterday on his website that doctors this month in Cuba discovered the cancer has started to affect Chavez’s liver and kidneys. Bocaranda revealed last June that Chavez had cancer five days before the self-declared socialist announced doctors in Cuba had removed a tumor from his pelvic area. “
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Friday April 5th, 2012 – WSJ – For Chávez, Oil and Water Don’t Mix by Kejal Vyas
“Oil-contaminated water has become a political issue, roiling residents of several states and leading one governor to break with Mr. Chávez in a rare public display of dissent from within the party ranks…..The dispute comes as Mr. Chávez fights cancer and faces, on Oct. 7, his toughest election since he came to power in 1999. His challenges already include one of the world’s highest inflation rates, widespread street crime and persistent shortages of power and basic consumer goods. Now, contaminated water in several states, most notably Monagas, threatens to make the resource yet another election hurdle for Mr. Chávez…..”I don’t think Chávez can afford to get too comfortable with this election, given what’s been going on with the water,” said Alexis Pino, a supporter of the president and a taxi driver in Maturin, capital city of Monagas and a commercial hub in Venezuela’s rural eastern region.”
Friday April 5th, 2012 – Fox – Cancer-Stricken Chavez Prays : ‘Don’t Take Me Yet’
“Unlike other times when Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has practically rolled his eyes in public over his health problems — dancing and singing before crowds after returning from radiation treatment — on Thursday he attended Mass, and said tearfully he is not ready to die……The incident follows Brazilian media reports that the ailing Venezuelan President will make an emergency trip to Brazil after allegedly suffering intestinal burns during his radiation treatment in Cuba.”
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Nelson Bocaranda is the most trusted independant source in Venezuela for rumors, usually confirmed after the fact by the government, on Chavez’ health. His twitter feed is a must read. Runrunes, his website, is a tougher slog.