PDVSA: From suspected black box to virtual black hole

The Devil's Excrement ^ | Nov. 17, 2004 | Miguel Octavio

[Kitten Festival]

Today, there are rumors that the President of PDVSA Ali Rodriguez will be removed from the post and appointed as Minister of Foreign Relations. While this is being denied by the Foreign Minister “por ahora”, the rumors appear to be true. Coincidentally I was going to talk about Rodriguez in the context of an excellent article about him in Descifrado by Mery Mogollon, entitled “Ali is naked” which I was going to comment on, adding my own information.

To understand what Mogollon is saying, it is important to place yourself in the proper context. Rodriguez, “Commander Faust” when he was a guerilla member has a curious past, to say the least. He was in the guerrillas for so long that he still lived in the mountains in 1983, when only him and Gabriel Puerta of Bandera Roja (now in the opposition!) were fighting a guerilla war in Venezuela.

Rodriguez, a lawyer, gave up his weapons to no one in particular (there was nobody looking for him) and managed to get elected to Congress in the 90’s, where he specialized in oil and oil policy. When Chavez decided to run for President, it was Rodriguez that tutored and advised him....

[Kitten Festival]

This is a RIVETING must-read if you want to see for yourself what third world waste, incompetence and fraud is in Chavez's communist empire. Venezuela supplies 15% of the U.S.'s oil supply but they aren't making any money off the higher oil prices - they are that wasteful! It's dazzlingly written and I couldn't put it down until I'd read the whole thing twice. It ties in everything you ever heard about Chavez's mismanaged oil industry and oh my gosh these guys are clowns!