Tag Archives: World Bank

Oct
26
2012
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In Case You Missed It… Articles Roundup Week of 10/26/12

gold In Case You Missed It… Articles Roundup Week of 10/26/12

Courtesy of: El Universal

Last Sunday, former Venezuelan Vice President Elias Jaua visited Fidel Castro in Cuba, stating he “is doing very well” amidst speculation over his health. Despite Venezuela’s withdrawal from the Inter-American Court on Human Rights, it continues to hear human rights cases against the government; now that the Venezuelan presidential race is over, the pace of housing construction has slowed remarkably in Caracas. Meanwhile, Venezuela’s crime rate soars as Caracas has become one of the hemisphere’s most violent cities amid declining poverty; NGOs call for a debate on the government’s proposed cable TV regulation, which would restrict content and limit government criticism on cable networks in Venezuela. Recently, the World Bank’s “Doing Business” report ranked Venezuela 180 out of 185 countries among those most difficult for investment; the IMF confirms gold sales made by Venezuela’s central bank in August, leaving bullion reserves at 362.05 tons; the opposition criticized electoral authorities for allowing pro-Chávez candidates to switch voting districts to run in different states in the December gubernatorial elections. Lastly, a resolution by the Venezuelan Ministry of Education establishes education councils charged with bringing up “a new citizenship” in Venezuela’s youth. The councils have been criticized as being used by representatives of Chávez’s party to deepen his socialist revolution within the educational system.

Castro ‘doing very well,’ Venezuelan politician says, CNN

Havana (CNN) — Fidel Castro “is doing very well,” Venezuela’s former vice president said Sunday, showing reporters a snapshot of the former Cuban leader that he said was taken the day before. Speculation has surged over Castro’s health in recent weeks.

Despite Venezuela’s withdrawal, IACHR still hears cases against it, El Universal

If the government was under the impression that by initiating its withdrawal from the Inter-American Court on Human Rights that organization would cease their probes into cases involving Venezuela, it was wrong, as evidenced by the fifteenth ruling against the nation.

Sluggishness of housing works, El Universal

The frenzied pace of most government works is now in the past after the presidential election, as verified in a tour by El Universal. The construction pace plunged in a complex of more than one thousand dwellings on the Los Leones bridge, La Paz, west Caracas.

Venezuela crime soars amid declining poverty, Al Jazeera

Caracas, Venezuela – With some 19,336 murders last year, Caracas has become one of the western hemisphere’s most violent cities and one particular criminology expert had a front row seat the other day, experiencing the overwhelming insecurity first-hand when robbers stuck a gun in his face as he rode home on the bus.

NGO calls for debate on cable TV regulation in Venezuela, El Universal

Representatives from several organizations belonging to the NGO Monitor Legislativo (Legislative Monitor) discussed the upcoming Venezuelan legislative agenda.

Spending Jumps 33% in Venezuela’s 2013 Budget Proposal, Fox Business

Mr. Giordani presented to Venezuela’s national parliament the annual budget proposal, which set expenditures at VEF396.4 billion bolivars, or just over $92 billion at the official exchange rate.

Venezuela among the countries with more obstacles to investments, El Universal

Venezuela is among the countries featuring more obstacles for opening a business, according to a study prepared by the World Bank entitled “Doing Business 2013.”

IMF confirms gold sales made by Venezuela’s central bank in August, El Universal

Venezuela sold 3.73 tons of gold bars in August, thus leaving its bullion reserves at 362.05 tons, according to figures disclosed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Reuters reported on Thursday.

Venezuela opposition criticizes movement of pro-Chavez candidates between voting districts, Fox News

CARACAS, Venezuela – Venezuelan opposition leaders complained Thursday that electoral authorities allowed some candidates allied with President Hugo Chavez to switch voting districts and run in different states in December’s gubernatorial elections.

Minister: education councils aim to bring up “the new citizen” in Venezuela, El Universal

Resolution 058 of the Venezuelan Ministry of Education provides for the establishment of education councils in the basic education subsystem. Such councils intend to bring up “a new citizenship,” which involves providing “integral education for the new man and woman, for the new republican,” according to Venezuelan Minister of Education Maryann Hanson.

 
Jun
8
2012
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In Case You Missed It… Articles Roundup Week of 6/8/12

07latitude venezA blog480 In Case You Missed It… Articles Roundup Week of 6/8/12

This week: Hugo Chávez announces he will register his candidacy on the last possible day, June 11; while Henrique Capriles continues on the campaign trail, Chávez has been absent, forcing his party to run his without him; Dan Rather’s report that Chávez has only two months to live restarts rumors about possible successors, and raises questions about what will happen to chavismo post-Chávez; exiting World Bank Chief Zoellick tells the world that Chávez and his policies are on their way out, and that the region should prepare for his exit; the value of Venezuelan bonds continues to go up, as investors bet on a transition to a more market-friendly economy and better business practices for the state-owned oil company; Venezuela’s currency continues to fall, however, reaching an all-time low this month. Meanwhile, Chávez and his allies also pushed for reforms designed to cripple the OAS’s human rights commission, as Chávez continues to support the Syrian government, despite the recent massacre; at home, Venezuela has one of the highest murder rates in the world.

Chavez to launch Venezuela candidacy in person, Reuters

Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez will personally go to register his candidacy for the October 7 election on Monday, officials said, dampening rumors he might be too unwell from cancer or considering a successor.

Chavez absent as team oils campaign machine, AFP

In a crowded square of the biggest shantytown in Caracas, President Hugo Chavez’s reelection campaign wheels are spinning.

A report by Dan Rather fires up the Caracas rumor mill, Foreign Policy

The news hit Venezuela’s gossip-sphere with a thud: According to “a highly respected source close to Chávez who is in a position to know his medical condition and history,” Hugo Chávez’s cancer has now “entered the end stage.”

Venezuela, oil and Chavismo without Chavez: Campbell, Reuters

Hugo Chavez’s picture is everywhere in Venezuela and may remain ubiquitous for some time, despite the president’s serious illness.

World Bank Chief Zoellick Says Chavez’s ‘Days Are Numbered’, Businessweek

World Bank President Robert Zoellick said Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s “days are numbered” economically and politically and that the region should prepare to move into a new era of democracy on his eventual exit.

Fading Chávez Rouses Markets, The Wall Street Journal

As investors flee stock markets around the world, some of them are scoping out an unlikely destination: Venezuela.

Venezuela’s dollar crunch, The Financial Times

Call it what you like: “green lettuce”, “fresh avocado” or “your Benjamin”. Just don’t use the word “dollar” when talking about any value of Venezuela’s currency, the bolivar, other than the official one.

Pressing for OAS changes, leftist governments of 4 Latin American nations quit defense treaty, The Washington Post

Four Latin American countries announced Tuesday that they’re pulling out of a regional defense treaty while pressing for changes in the Organization of American States.

Despite Massacre, Chávez Fueling Friendship With Syria, The Daily Beast

In Venezuela, La Negra Hipolita is considered a latter-day saint. Born a slave, she cared for the infant Simón Bolívar, who grew up to become Latin America’s storied liberator, and later, the hero of President Hugo Chávez.

Counting by Murders, The New York Times

One hundred fifty-five thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight. That, according to new research by the Venezuelan criminologist Fermín Mármol García, is the number of murders committed in Venezuela since 1999.

 
Feb
24
2012
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In Case You Missed It… Articles Roundup Week of 2/24/12

In this week’s roundup…  The Chávez administration hurled insults at opposition candidate Henrique Capriles following his landslide victory in the primaries; several Jewish groups publicly condemned Chávez’s anti-Semitic remarks against Capriles. Meanwhile, Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez heads to Cuba to undergo a third operation after doctors found another lesion where his last tumor was removed, stoking speculations about who will succeed Chávez if he is forced to step down.  A new report found that private construction in Venezuela is down 70 percent in the last two years, contributing to the critical housing shortage; Chinese loans drive PDVSA toward bankruptcy; Gold Reserve Inc. concludes oral hearings in ICSID arbitration against Venezuela; and Chávez continues to foster relationships with controversial governments, including Iran and Syria.

Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez faces an uprising at the ballot box, The Washington Post

Henrique Capriles Radonski, a 39-year-old Venezuelan state governor, won a primary election to become the opposition’s candidate against Hugo Chavez in October’s presidential election.

Chavez Media Say Rival Capriles Backs Plots Ranging From Nazis to Zionists, Bloomberg

Venezuela’s state media has accused opposition presidential nominee Henrique Capriles Radonski of offenses ranging from participating in a Zionist conspiracy to joining a Nazi-inspired effort to wipe out blacks and the poor.

El loco’s new foe, The New York Post

The reign of Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chávez faces its worst trouble in years. The normally fractured opposition has suddenly united behind one man, Henrique Capriles Radonski, in the Oct. 7 presidential election.      

Jewish groups decry ‘anti-Semitic’ Venezuelan state media article, CNN

A Venezuelan state media article about Chavez’s chief political challenger drew criticism from the New York-based Anti-Defamation League and the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center last week. 

AJC Decries Anti-Semitic Assaults in Venezuela Presidential Campaign, Market Watch

“If President Chavez wants to convince the world that Venezuela is a democracy, he needs to act now to show that there is no room for willful hate,” said AJC Executive Director David Harris.

Chávez Health Struggle Stokes Political Uncertainties, The Wall Street Journal

New uncertainties about Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez’s health are threatening to spur a power struggle to succeed him among the factions that make up his political movement, and boosting the hopes of a rejuvenated opposition planning for the presidential election this fall.

What Happens Next in Venezuela?, Foreign Policy

What happens if an incapacitated Chávez wins? Or, will a dying Chávez’s anointing of a successor succeed in overcoming a unified and energized opposition for the first time in a decade? Or, will voters, burdened by declining economic conditions and rising crime, opt for a new direction in the face of the uncertainty surrounding Chávez and the lack of a legitimate standard-bearer for his movement?

The republic vs. Chávez, The Miami Herald

You multiply it by 2.5 or 3 — depending on whom you ask. That’s how you usually translate the votes from the primaries into the final election results. Electoral experts insist that the three million votes obtained by Henrique Capriles in the Venezuelan primaries could bring him between 7.5 and nine million votes in the balloting against Hugo Chávez. Enough to remove him from power.

Private construction drops 70% in the past two years, El Universal

The president of the Venezuelan Construction Chamber, Juan Francisco Jiménez, stated that private construction has dropped 70% in the last two years. The situation was described as serious by the businessman leader, who said that the construction industry is necessary for the country’s development.

Thousands Of Homeless An Election Issue For Chavez, NPR

Oil-rich Venezuela is awash in hundreds of thousands of homeless. Many find places to live where they can — in half-finished shopping malls or under the grandstand at a race track. The huge number of homeless has become an election issue for President Hugo Chavez, who is seeking his fourth, six-year term.

Chinese loans put Venezuela over barrel, The Washington Times

Opposition groups in Venezuela are warning that billions of dollars in Chinese loans are driving the state oil company toward bankruptcy.

Gold Reserve Announces Conclusion of Oral Hearings in ICSID Arbitration Against Venezuela, Business Wire

Gold Reserve Inc. announces that the oral hearings held at the World Bank in Washington, D.C., and presided over by a three-member tribunal in the arbitration conducted under the auspices of the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes concluded, as scheduled, on February 17, 2012.

As Others Isolate Syria, Chávez Ships Fuel to It, The New York Times

A day before the United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to condemn President Bashar al-Assad of Syria this month for his bloody crackdown on the uprising in his country, President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela was conducting a very different kind of diplomacy on his own.

Iran and Venezuela, BFF, The NY Daily News

At a time when the world is rightly focused on the Iranian nuclear threat and its intentions against Israel, it is also important to not lose sight of that country’s clandestine dealings in Latin America. Its activities there serve multiple purposes. None of them is benign.