April 2020

A question we get often, from analysts trying to make sense of what's happening with PDVSA's trading, finances, assets, etc., is: what's going on with crude deliveries? Maritime tracking apps / software are, in Venezuela's particular case, not fit for purpose, for these rely on vessels' AIS transponders to broadcast geolocations which are picked by terrestrial or satellite receivers. This information can then be seen on maps easily. But what happens when ships switch transponders off, which has become the new norm in most of the tankers involved with PDVSA?

Trying to stay relevant in politics is quite difficult in the best of times and places. Imagine how it looks for those with such aspirations, when, in the middle of current pandemic, their area of expertise is a banana republic cum failed State submerged in an abyss of corruption, like crisis-ridden Venezuela. Case in point Francisco Rodriguez, who went from an advisory role in Venezuela's Congress, to academia, to earn a living talking up -in stressed bond circles- chavismo's trustworthyness and ability to service its piling debt.

Bloomberg hacks covering Venezuela have just startled their audience with an amazing discovery: "Two Ex-Gazprom Executives Help Venezuela Keep Oil Flowing":

UPDATED - Further to Rosneft's recent "sale" of its Venezuela assets to new Roszarubezhneft venture, we've been trying to pierce the veil of fakenews about the move.

Rafael Ramirez needs no introduction. While most people know him as former CEO of PDVSA, former Energy Minister, former Venezuela Ambassador to the UN, we know him as the architect of the largest corruption scheme the world has ever seen. Under his watch, PDVSA got close to $1.3 trillion USD worth of income, of which little is left.

Dear Department of Justice,

Further to your recent superseding indictment against Nicolas Maduro and his criminal associates, I want to help with information that could lead to their arrests. Fact is, only those within a rather small circle keep in regular contact with Maduro and co, and know of their whereabouts. To members of that circle $15 million is, beyond an insult, pocket change.

With ~1.35 million lawyers, the United States of America has one of the world's largest percentages of lawyers per capita, and it is widely considered to have one of the most litigious societies in the planet. Imagine then my shock, when learning that Adam Kaufmann, former understudy of legendary New York prosecutor Robert Morgenthau, is representing narcoterrorist Cliver Alcala Cordones.