For a decade, countries from Guyana to Nicaragua have gained from a program that allowed them to trade for Venezuelan oil using everything from the jeans they produced to the pasta they made.

Now, the $8 billion Petrocaribe subsidy, which also allows countries to finance part of their oil purchases at 1 percent for 25 years, is looking less secure as Venezuela faces inflation that’s risen to 63 percent and the world’s widest budget deficit.

In response, at least four countries are taking steps to reduce their reliance on Venezuela’s subsidy as crude prices plunge, according to the International Monetary Fund. It’s a move other countries should follow, said David Voght, managing director of energy consultancy IPD Latin America.

“The scale of the oil price decline should trigger some adjustments,” Voght said by telephone from Miami. He urged countries to “react quickly to the fact that in its current form, this agreement presents a huge financial burden for a struggling Venezuela.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-25/venezuela-turmoil-signals-end-of-oil-for-jeans-giveaway.html

Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro said there was "no rush" to hike the world's cheapest gasoline prices, suggesting the increasingly unpopular president has shied away from implementing the risky domestic reform in the near future amid an economic crisis.

"I've considered, as head of state, that the moment has not arrived," he said in a pre-recorded interview broadcast on the Televen channel on Sunday.

"The moment will come, maybe in 2015, there's no rush, we're not going to throw more gasoline on the fire that already exists with speculation and induced inflation."

Venezuela's economy is flailing under the weight of an over 60 percent annual inflation, an apparent recession, strict currency controls, and slipping oil prices.

http://news.yahoo.com/venezuelas-maduro-says-no-rush-hike-worlds-cheapest-154418498--business.html

Hiking the gas price might well be the catalyst that will end with Maduro leaving the scene, which is why he's kicking that can down the road and hoping for the best.

prices is the super third rail of politics in Venezuela. If he raises fuel prices even by a little he's as good as gone.

They took a diamond and made coal out of it.

primordial ooze.

A fitting end for a dictator. He doesn't have the whole cult of personality thing that Chavez had.

(Diosdado Cabello) is sharpening his knife and waiting in the wings.

I just hope one day justice is dealt to these assholes who've turned the pride of South America into an embarrassment of a country