Note to Rory Carroll Re Venezuela

[Judi Lynn]

Note to Rory Carroll Re Venezuela
December 21, 2010
By Joe Emersberger

RE: Oil giants squeeze Chávez as Venezuela struggles; Dec 9, 2010
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/09/wikileaks-oil-giants-squeeze-chavez

Dear Rory Carroll (and editors):

You wrote

“Venezuela's tottering economy is forcing Hugo Chávez to make deals with foreign corporations to save his socialist revolution from going broke.”

You say cables released by Wikileaks reveal a “severe financial crunch in his government.”

The cables you cite actually say nothing at all about Venezuela’s government going broke – understandably enough, since such a claim would be outlandish.

As of September of 2010, the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) reported that Venezuela’s debt to GDP ratio was a very low 18% - far lower than most European country’s (Britain’s is 70% of GDP).<1> Venezuela’s foreign public debt is only 10.8% of GDP. It also has foreign exchange reserves of $28 Billion USD and, as of last year, acurrent account surplus of $19.8 billion USD.

Given all this data, how do you justify your opening sentence?

More:
http://www.zcommunications.org/note-to-rory-carroll-re-venezuela-by-joe-emersberger