Smells Like Desperation

In a showing of just how much falling oil prices are hurting his political ambitions, hard-line anti-West, anti-capitalist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is now courting western oil companies for investment.

Western companies' -- Chevron, Royal/Dutch among them -- interest in investing in Venezuela, says the NY Times, shows the scarcity of oil projects open to investment elsewhere, principally in the Middle East.

Experts are saying that Venezuela's shrinking production capabilities became obvious even a year ago, when the government first began considering Western investment, where companies tend to have more expertise in shoring up higher production rates.

In 2007 Chavez nationalized oil fields and began kicking out Western companies -- matters that Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips have ongoing legal battles over.

Venezuela remains a risky investment and no one seems sure how the bids, expected to be finalized by June, will turn out. "An agreement on a piece of paper means nothing in Venezuela because of the way Chavez abruptly changes the rules of the game," said one anonymous Venezuelan oilman.

Nth Times the Charm

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is seeking yet another referendum to abolish term limits.

A recent survey, says the LA Times, shows that 55% of the population would oppose the measure.

With oil prices dropping and a recession looming, some think this is Chavez's last shot, even if a long one, at passing the measure. Otherwise, they say, he'll be gone in four years. To that end, Chavez is campaigning hard for the measure, saying his defeat will signal an end to his welfare programs for poor Venezuelans and a victory for the "US empire."

Comrades to the End

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez spoke with a fondness for Fidel Castro in a television and radio address yesterday, but said he believes it is unlikely his old comrade will ever appear in public again.  

Castro underwent emergency intestinal surgery two and a half years ago and has rarely appeared in public since.  

Chavez did not comment on Castro's health.  

China & Venezuela, Sittin' in a Tree

Venezuela took control of a $400-million, Chinese-built communications satellite over the weekend.  China built the satellite under contract for Venezuela and launched it in October, reports the LA Times.  

Chavez said the satellite will allow Venezuela to overcome the U.S. "media bombardment" thereby strengthening Venezuelan sovereignty.  The satellite is also expected to bring internet connections to schools across Venezuela and improve the nations health industry via improved IT and medical record-keeping and communicating.   

Venezuela is also waiting on 18 military jet training aircraft this month it purchased from China.

Some see these deals, as well as increased Venezuelan oil buying on China's part, as both a sign of strengthening ties between China and Latin America and waning influence of the U.S. in the region.  

China has also invested in oil production projects in many parts of Venezuela where U.S. firms were booted from not long ago.  

Chavez critics say China is the main beneficiary in these trades and that with oil pricing waning Chavez will not be able to continue such arrangements for long.  

Bolivarian Revolution, Please Hold

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has had to curtail government spending by declining oil prices, threatening the socialist model that nation is built upon and his position as a political and philanthropic leader in the region.  

The Miami Herald reported this morning that the first to go was Chavez's program that supplied free heating oil to poor people in the United States, but quickly changed the story after the Washington Post said that Chavez will continue the program, which supplies fuel to 200,000 American households in 26 states and 65 Native American tribes.  

Cutting domestic spending on Venezuela's poor would be disastrous for Chavez's political career; a referendum is around the corner to lift term limits on his presidency, he trails by 20 points in polls and his base of support is the poor.  

Next on the chopping block may be the subsidized and heavily discounted oil Venezuela sells to poor nations in the region.   

"Chavez's meddling (in foreign affairs) will certainly be a lot less effective in 2009," said former Bolivian President Jorge Quiroga.