Maduro’s costly serenade for Castro’s birthday

Venezuela is suffering its worst economic crisis in recent memory, but that doesn’t seem to have stopped President Nicolas Maduro from spending $375,000 to travel to Cuba with an 80-member delegation — including musicians, dancers, relatives and friends — to celebrate the 90th birthday of Cuba’s retired maximum leader Fidel Castro.

When I read this news report in the Venezuelan daily El Nacional, my first reaction was to wonder whether the figures were accurate. So I called opposition Congressman Carlos Berrizbeitia, the legislator who had disclosed these figures at a National Assembly session, and asked him how he had come up with his estimate.

Berrizbeitia, a member of the National Assembly’s appropriations committee, told me that Maduro traveled to Cuba on Aug. 12 with about 80 people aboard three airplanes, including the 45-55 passenger presidential aircraft, an older 45-55 passenger presidential plane and a smaller Falcon aircraft owned by Venezuela’s state-run PDVSA oil monopoly.

The fuel expenses of the three planes for the 2,700-mile round-trip amounted to about $270,000, he said. In addition, the Venezuelan delegation spent about $250 per person a day in food and lodging, which added another $105,000 to the total bill, he said.

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