Authored by Tsvetana Paraskova via OilPrice.com,
The pro-government constitutional assembly loyal to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro seized the powers of the opposition-led congress today, in a move that necessarily has Big Oil nervous that Trump will make good on his economic sanctions threat.
A tanker loaded with 1 million barrels of Venezuelan heavy crude has been stranded for over a month off the coast of Louisiana, not because it can't sail but as a result of Venezuela's imploding economy, and its inability to obtain a bank letter of credit to deliver its expensive cargo. It's the latest sign of the financial troubles plaguing state-run oil company PDVSA in the aftermath of the latest US sanctions against the Maduro regime, and evidence that banks are slashing exposure to Venezuela across the board as the Latin American nation spirals into chaos.
Shortages are becoming ever more severe in Venezuela. As Deutsche Welle reports, according to the World Health Organization, hospitals lack 95% of necessary medicines. Many people are undernourished and they receive no help from the government.
"An estimated 75% of Venezuelans lost at least 10 kilos last year because there is not enough food to go around... people here call it 'The Maduro Diet'...
In a harbinger of what - for various reasons - may be coming to the US, Venezuela's brand new "all-powerful" constituent assembly is set to pass a bill that will jail anyone who expresses "hate or intolerance" for up to 25 years, a measure which the local opposition - and everyone else - is certain will be used by Maduro's regime to silence and punish all dissent.
Senator Marco Rubio may have been targeted for assassination by one of Venezuela's most powerful lawmakers and long time secretive head of the country's security services. According to the Miami Herald, the US Department of Homeland Security disseminated a sensitive memo to federal agencies last month which identified Diosdado Cabello Rondon as behind the "order to have Senator Rubio assassinated," while also noting the intelligence to be unverified as “no specific information regarding an assassination plot against Senator Rubio has been garnered thus far."