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In the league of "corruption that bankrupts nations" Venezuela is an outlier. The corruption is of such scale that over a quarter of Venezuela's population have decided that exile and asylum seeking are better options. Corruption is, and has been, one of the fundamental policies of chavismo. Trillions of dollars have been lost since Hugo Chavez came to power in 1999. Whereas Chavez formulated the policy, Rafael Ramirez was hand-picked as executor in chief.

An electoral event is rising on Venezuela's horizon: primaries that will determine the opposition's candidate. The main premise is that said opposition will present just one candidate against incumbent Nicolas Maduro in 2024's presidential elections. Maria Corina Machado is leading the primaries race. Manuel Rosales, Henrique Capriles, and others less known figures are also participating.

The claim that Venezuela had the "world's largest oil reserves" went viral during Hugo Chavez's presidency. It is a very convenient claim, from a geopolitical and economic viewpoint. It somehow makes the country more relevant. Chavez nurtured and repeated the legend every time he could. It became one of those revolutionary mantras that everyone regurgitates without question, like the lie that Venezuela was declared an "illiteracy free territory" by UNESCO.

Take a look at this Ponzi scheme: it is said to be Spain's largest, €3 billion that belonged to 300,000 people vanished.

Because we know Giuliani visited Betancourt in Madrid; because we know Giuliani lobbied Trump's Attorney General Bill Barr on Betancourt's behalf; because Giuliani is on record saying Betancourt couldn't be discussed because doing so was a matter of "national security"; the question aftert the title must then be: did the Donald get money from Alejandro Betancourt?

Make sure to read this, and specifically points 94-96 and 132.

There is a tired debate regarding sanctions. Naturally both camps disregard data inconvenient to their stance. Proponents see sanctions as perfect non-violent measures that bring economic hardship to targets. Opponents see it as demonstrably inefficient tools that invariably end up punishing the wrong people. Both sides are simultaneously right and wrong. Cuba is the perfect case study. Years of U.S. sanctions have achieved precisely nothing against the dictators in power.

In its latest weekly publication Gotham City published "Le fisc espagnol s'intéresse aux comptes suisses d'Alejandro Betancourt." As is typical in anything related to "entrepreneur" Betancourt, it turns out he hasn't been forthcoming regarding his global income and assets, which, as a resident in Spain, he must declare. With respect to tax payments over the years in Venezuela (where Betancourt "made his wealth"), he has never paid his due to SENIAT, Venezuela's tax authority

El Nacional reported yesterday, without giving much detail, that Alessandro Bazzoni is the ultimate beneficiary owner of United Petroleo, a Panamanian shell that has been lifting hundreds of millions of dollars worth of PDVSA crude in the recent past.