Venezuela: Resistance or disintegration?

Just need to clarify the reasons of certain in the region countries who have officially taken an anti-Maduro stance. Chile these days and in the past decade whether under center left/left and now center right governments plays by its own rules and is not a complete US vassal state. Chile, like most of the other countries in South America who have taken an anti-Maduro stance did it before the recent gung-ho Bolton/Canada led Lima Group/etc. push. Like Chile, the issue for most has been the southerly out migration of millions of Venezuelans and the impact it has had on the finances and social services of their countries. In addition, for Chile, it was the public anti-Chile opinions of Maduro and his support of Bolivia and Peru where Chile had to spend millions of dollars to present their side for two court rulings in the Hague over border disputes. As stated in another post above, only three countries in the Lima group (Canada, Colombia, Guyana) did not denounce a foreign military invasion as they damn know well that there would be an even greater humanitarian and migration disaster if not permanently breaking and keeping Venezuela as a failed state for decades to come from a destructive military invasion. The bottom line, neighboring countries are fed up with Maduro’s government and just want someone different who can hopefully bring stability and not light a match that could burn down most of the region. It is unfortunate that the US has co-opted the anti-Maduro countries in the region for its own geo-econ-political/spread chaos purposes.
 
I’d say neighboring countries have also been led to believe that it is ALL Maduro’s fault, which isn’t the case.

So whether Chile or Peru or whoever are imagining that they’re playing by their own rules, they’re in fact playing in the larger game of the US.

If they knew better they’d realize that advocating for dialogue instead of inflaming the “illegitimate president” narrative is what’s best for everyone in the region. But what they do instead is echo the US give this Guaido guy the impression of support and further divide Venezuela, further push Maduro into a corner where he will feel justified in making further mistakes, while the situation does not improve for anyone at all.

This is not to say that there aren’t legitimate grievances, they exist! No country is equipped to take a constant influx of hundreds of tohousands of Venezuelan migrants who’re willing to work for cheap to then send their earning back to their country. Who also represent a social expenditure.
 
Do you have a link to that comment? I'd be interested to learn more about that. Thanks!
It is on this thread,
Venezuela
Look at comments - "Newest First" and look for
picture-216451.jpg

marcel tjoeng

2/3/2019, 4:09:13 PM
 
Sanctions are the main reason for the migration of Venezuelans outside their country, IMHO. Even if the price of oil were to be at the level it is today Venezuela would be OK if it could normaly conduct its business with other nations. It can not !!! WHY ? United States of America, otherwise known as The Gringos.

An even more problematic idea driving current U.S. policy is the belief that financial sanctions can hurt the Venezuelan government without causing serious harm to ordinary Venezuelans. That’s impossible when 95 percent of Venezuela’s export revenue comes from oil sold by the state-owned oil company. Cutting off the government’s access to dollars will leave the economy without the hard currency needed to pay for imports of food and medicine. Starving the Venezuelan economy of its foreign currency earnings risks turning the country’s current humanitarian crisis into a full-blown humanitarian catastrophe.

That’s what began to happen in 2017. Last year, Venezuela’s export revenues rose from $28 to $32 billion, buoyed by the recovery in world oil prices. Under normal conditions, a rise in a country’s exports would leave it with more resources to pay for its imports. But in the Venezuelan case, imports fell by 31 percent during the same year. The reason is that the country lost access to international financial markets. Unable to roll over its debt, it was forced to build up huge external surpluses to continue servicing that debt in a desperate attempt to avoid a default. Meanwhile, creditors threatened to seize the Venezuelan government’s remaining revenue sources if the country defaulted, including refineries located abroad and payments for oil shipments.

US cares less about the Majority of Venezuelans. The sanctions have been in force for a Long Time.

Back in 2002, opponents of then-President Chávez called for a massive strike in the country’s oil sector. The strike brought oil production to a standstill and caused a double-digit recession in an attempt to get Chávez to resign. This event single-handedly convinced Venezuelans that they could not trust a political movement that was willing to destroy the economy in order to attain power. In a recall referendum held two years later, voters resoundingly backed Chávez.

The United States and the anti-Maduro opposition will not win the hearts and minds of Venezuelans by helping drive the country’s economy into the ground.
The United States and the anti-Maduro opposition will not win the hearts and minds of Venezuelans by helping drive the country’s economy into the ground.
If Washington wants to show it cares about Venezuelans, it could start by providing help to those most affected by the crisis.
US is not interested in helping. It is interested in doing things by Force and then sweeping everything under the rug. NO ONE is talking about Libya anymore. No one in MSM.

The Ugly Game
 
Economic war redux

By now it’s firmly established what happened in Caracas was not a color revolution but an old-school US-promoted regime change coup using local comprador elites, installing as “interim president” an unknown quantity, Juan Guaido, with his Obama choirboy looks masking extreme right-wing credentials.

Everyone remembers “Assad must go”. The first stage in the Syrian color revolution was the instigation of civil war, followed by a war by proxy via multinational jihadi mercenaries. As Thierry Meyssan has noted, the role of the Arab League then is performed by the OAS now. And the role of Friends of Syria – now lying in the dustbin of history – is now performed by the Lima group, the club of Washington’s vassals. Instead of al-Nusra “moderate rebels”, we may have Colombian – or assorted Emirati-trained – “moderate rebel” mercenaries.

Contrary to Western corporate media fake news, the latest elections in Venezuela were absolutely legitimate. There was no way to tamper with the made in Taiwan electronic voting machines. The ruling Socialist Party got 70 percent of the votes; the opposition, with many parties boycotting it, got 30 percent. A serious delegation of the Latin American Council of Electoral Experts (CEELA) was adamant; the election reflected “peacefully and without problems, the will of Venezuelan citizens”.

The American embargo may be vicious. In parallel, Maduro’s government may have been supremely incompetent in not diversifying the economy and investing in food self-sufficiency. Major food importers, speculating like there’s no tomorrow, are making a killing. Still, reliable sources in Caracas tell that the barrios – the popular neighborhoods – remain largely peaceful.

In a country where a full tank of gas still costs less than a can of Coke, there’s no question the chronic shortages of food and medicines in local clinics have forced at least two million people to leave Venezuela. But the key enforcing factor is the US embargo.

Devils Grip

Would love to know who is behind these "Major food importers". ;-)
 
Jordi Évole's interview with Nicolás Maduro in the headlines: "Are you against the ropes?"

Salvados kicks off a new season with Jordi Évole's exclusive interview with Nicolás Maduro in the midst of the Venezuelan crisis. Here, the most outstanding headlines and videos left by the program. You can also see the full interview in Atresplayer.


laSexta.com | Madrid | 03/02/2019
Nicolás Maduro denies the detention of journalists: "In Venezuela there is full exercise of freedom of expression".

Jordi Évole starts his exclusive interview with Nicolás Maduro in Salvados, highlighting to the president of Venezuela the situation that many journalists live in the country: "I feel privileged, more than comrades who have been detained or deported from their country these days".

Maduro denies any detention of journalists and affirms that the problem is the existence of a "campaign" to make Venezuela "look like a monster in a dictatorship": "Anything that happens is magnified to add to the permanent campaign of wear and tear and justify against our government and country anything that can happen.

Have you thought about leaving after what happened with Guaidó? Maduro's surreal response to Évole on Venezuela


Journalist Jordi Évole asks Nicolás Maduro if he has thought of leaving at any time after the latest events in Venezuela after Guaidó proclaimed himself president of the country.

Maduro's answer surprises Jordi Évole, who is forced to repeat the question. "The good thing for the country is that the Constitution is respected. I am the first one to do it, I swore to respect and make respect the Constitution, and that is my duty," replies the Chavista leader.

Nicolas Maduro's criticism of the death of Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein: "It was a total crime endorsed by the West".

The Venezuelan president emphasizes that "everyone knows" how Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein ended up and affirms that "it was a total crime endorsed by the West.

"Look how they left Iraq, dismembered, and who suffers today the consequences of the destruction of Libya," the Chavista leader asks Jordi Évole. "It has been serious mistakes from which humanity must draw lessons. We have to remember that the Bush-Aznar coalition led to the war in Iraq and they paid," says Maduro exclusively. Finally, Chávez's successor points out that he is going to prevent "those errors and horrors that have been committed from being committed in Venezuela.

Nicolás Maduro, on the Venezuelan crisis: "This is not going to end badly, anyway I assume all my responsibility".

"If this ends badly, will you feel responsible," Jordi Évole asks Nicolás Maduro about the Venezuelan crisis. The president of Venezuela confesses exclusively in Salvados that the situation "is not going to end badly": "We have experience of 20 years of struggles, we are truly, a popular force with historical character with a project and with the leadership of the country".

In any case, Maduro affirms that, "for better or for worse," he assumes "all responsibility," for which he always tries to "act of good will. Asked if the situation is likely to end in a civil war, the country's president replies that "no one can answer right now with certainty, everything depends on the level of madness and aggressiveness of the northern empire.

Jordi Évole's confession to Nicolás Maduro: "I'm afraid of what he says, thousands of innocent Venezuelans can pay with their lives".

"You reminded me of a phrase by Hugo Chávez after coming to power that the commander said," said Jordi Évole to Nicolás Maduro in Salvados. The phrase in question, as the journalist recalls, is "'never again arms, never again violence. Faced with this fact, Maduro affirms that it is true, but that now Venezuela is "threatened by the world's greatest powers.

"The military option is on the table of Donald Trump, we have to prepare ourselves to defend the right to peace," says the Chavista leader, words that "frighten" Jordi Évole. Thousands of innocent Venezuelans can end up paying for their lives," insists the journalist to Maduro, but he stresses that this will only happen "if the American empire attacks the country.

Maduro's response to Sánchez's ultimatum: "It is as if I were forcing the European Union to recognise the Republic of Catalonia".

Jordi Évole talks to Nicolás Maudro about the crisis in Venezuela and the European Union's response in which the Venezuelan president is given several days to call elections in the country. "We don't accept 'ultimatums' from anyone, it's as if I told the European Union that I'm giving him a few days to recognize the republic of Catalonia", declares the Chavista leader.

Asked why he does not want to hold elections in the country, Maduro asks the following question: "Why does the European Union have to tell a country in the world that has already made its presidential elections at the time to repeat them?".

Maduro's message to the EU about the ultimatum to call elections: "I will not give my arm to twist, do not underestimate Venezuela again".

Évole and Maduro debate the data of the presidential elections that the president of Venezuela won in May 2018, elections that, moreover, had the highest abstention. The journalist asks the politician if they were valid elections after the international analysis numbers that criticize such validity.

On the other hand, Évole asks the president if he refuses to call elections for fear of losing them. "I don't refuse to call them, there are elections in 2024. We don't care at all what Europe says about Venezuela, Europe that takes care of its problems such as unemployment or migration," Maduro replies.

Tension between Évole and Maduro over the call for elections in Venezuela: "I repeat the question because you are not answering me".

Evole asks the president of Venezuela if he will agree to call elections as requested by the European Union. As Nicolás Maduro does not answer, the journalist repeatedly asks him the same question, but Maduro refuses to confirm that he will not call them.

Nicolás Maduro, to Pedro Sánchez: "It is shameful that he is repeating Aznar's story. He kneels with Trump and twists Iglesias' arm.

Evole asks if Maduro considers himself a leftist leader. "We are a revolutionary movement, we cannot be measured between left and right. Pedro Sánchez has made the mistake of establishing himself as the benefactor pope of the world left because nobody is, the left is diverse.

Asked if his attitude harms the left, Nicolás Maduro points out that "whoever harms the world left is the one who folds to Donald Trump. In addition, he points out that "it's embarrassing to repeat Aznar's story," something that, he says, "Pedro Sánchez is doing.

Evole responds to Maduro's accusation of "being poisoned": "I can't accuse all journalists of that anymore".

The presenter of Salvados asks Nicolás Maduro if it is possible for him to create a third parliament in the face of the country's crisis, bearing in mind that he already has two. "Your question is ironic, I'm not going to answer it, make me another one", Maduro replies to Jordi Évole.

As Évole still does not understand why there are two parliaments in Venezuela, Maduro tells him that "it is poisoned", something that causes the presenter to respond forcefully: "The fact that we journalists are poisoned no longer infiltrates".

Nicolás Maduro's shocking message to Donald Trump: "You make mistakes that stain your hands with blood".

Nicolás Maduro has assured that Donald Trump will come out of the U.S. Presidency "stained with blood". In addition, he added that "the US wants to return to the 20th century of military coups d'état, of subordinate puppet governments and plundering of resources".

Nicolás Maduro's justification of Venezuela's relations with Putin and Erdogan: "The 21st century cannot be that of a dominant empire".

Regarding Venezuela's international relations, Maduro affirms: "The new world is rare because it respects diversity, it is not the world of the old colonial powers.

Nicolás Maduro's harsh attack on Pedro Sánchez: "You're going to get worse than Aznar for getting into Iraq. I hope you don't get your hands stained with blood from the crisis in Venezuela.

Maduro sends a harsh message to Pedro Sánchez after the president of Spain sent him an ultimatum to call elections in Venezuela: "He is a phoney, he has not been elected by anyone, he should be the one to call elections because the Spanish people did not elect him.

In addition, the president of Venezuela criticizes that "Sanchez does not have the moral to stop like a doll giving lessons to Venezuela": "It has been a long time since we took orders from Madrid, so that you know Pedro Sanchez, you made a mistake and you are going to be worse off than Aznar when he got into Iraq.

"I hope you don't get blood on your hands with Donald Trump in the Venezuelan crisis, Pedro Sánchez," concludes Nicolás Maduro.

Nicolás Maduro responds to Pablo Casado and Albert Rivera: "Venezuela is despised for its neocolonial vision".

"I think it's a contempt that is rooted in the hatred they have for Bolivar's Venezuela," said Nicolás Maduro, referring to Pablo Casado and Albert Rivera.

Nicolás Maduro's response to Pablo Iglesias after saying that "the political situation in Venezuela is dire".

Nicolás Maduro has responded to Pablo Iglesias' declarations on Venezuela by affirming that the country's political situation "is dire". "He should be more concerned about uniting his party and not allowing himself to be pressured. Everyone who speaks badly of Venezuela in Spain believes that he wins points.
 
following the interview:

Nicolás Maduro attacks Juan Guaidó: "It's a self-proclaimed antics, it has no constitutional basis".

"Why do you think Guaidó is carrying out a coup d'état if there has been no violence or military uprising," Jordi Évole asked Maduro.

Maduro has said that "only the people choose and only the people take away". He also added that "Guaidó is not empowered to assume the highest investiture of the country.

"Jordi Évole asks Maduro if he benefits the military leadership.

After Evole asked Maduro if the army is faithful to him "for what it grants him," Maduro replied that it was not. "The Army has a historical conscience, a moral commitment, and has felt indignant in the face of the so-called coups d'état and US intervention," Maduro insisted.

Nicolás Maduro insists in Salvados that "Venezuela is a victim of an external aggression".

Although Nicolás Maduro has told Évole that he is "very self-critical" and that his government is "responsible for many things that work badly," he insists on the idea of aggression against Venezuela.

Nicolás Maduro denies that Venezuela is experiencing a humanitarian crisis: "We have a brutal economic war".

"Venezuela does not have a humanitarian crisis, it has a social care policy but they do not allow it to alleviate the wounds of the economic war," said Nicolás Maduro in Salvados, who asked about the situation in the country. In addition, he told Jordi Évole that "many people who leave Venezuela have been deceived, they leave with a hope that is a false vision.

Jordi Évole reminds Nicolás Maduro of his unfulfilled promises

Recalling the interview Jordi Évole did with Nicolás Maduro in 2017, the director of Salvados has reminded Maduro that he has broken his promises on the pensions of Venezuelans who are in Spain and homosexual marriage.

What will Nicolás Maduro do if the EU and Spain recognise Guaidó as president of Venezuela?

Jordi Évole asks Nicolás Maduro in Salvados about the end of the ultimatum given for him to call elections in Venezuela.

Does Nicolás Maduro consider withdrawing? "We will defend ourselves with the force of reason and with the reason of force".

"We Bolivarians don't give up, we even fight with our nails. We defend an historic cause and we are going to defend it", said Nicolás Maduro when Jordi Évole asked him in Salvados if he plans to retire.

Nicolás Maduro's warning: "Pedro Sánchez, we'll never accept anything, you'll sink".

Nicolás Maduro has denied that he plans to withdraw and has demanded that "the ultimatums cease". He has also attacked the president of the Spanish government: "We will never accept anything by any means, as far as Pedro Sánchez knows. Venezuela by the bad luck does not give a step to any direction, that they know it in the world".

This is how Nicolás Maduro's team interrupted Jordi Évole's interview in Salvados

Although Nicolás Maduro told Salvados' team that there was no time limit for the interview, a member of Maduro's team interrupted the interview. After Évole insisted, they were able to continue for another half hour.

Nicolás Maduro and Jordi Évole's call to Juan Guaidó in Salvados

After Nicolás Maduro said he didn't have Juaido Guaidó, Jordi Évole decided to call him in front of Nicolás Maduro so that both of them could talk.

Maduro's interview in spanish and in video.
 
The financial sanctions could become crippling unless an intelligent way out is found.

_Flotilla Of Venezuelan Oil Tankers Stranded In Gulf Of Mexico


Flotilla Of Venezuelan Oil Tankers Stranded In Gulf Of Mexico

by Tyler Durden

On Monday evening, the embattled regime of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro suffered its latest blow when 11 of the 14 members of the "Lima Group" - an organization created with the singular aim to bring about a "peaceful end" to the crisis in Latin America's socialist paradise - backed opposition leader Juan Guaido as the legitimate ruler of Venezuela.
Bully
In a declaration issued by the group, the governments of Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay and Peru "reiterate their recognition and support for Juan Guaidó" and called on the international community "to take measures to prevent the Maduro regime from conducting financial and trade transactions abroad, from having access to Venezuela's international assets and from doing business in oil, gold and other assets," according to the BBC.
BBC
And in the latest sign that military conflict remains a possibility (after all, both President Trump and National Security Advisor John Bolton have insisted that the door to a military intervention is still open), when asked about whether a civil war is inevitable, Maduro replied that "no one could answer that question with certainty." While Guaido, who is struggling to convince the Venezuelan military to abandon Maduro and back his upstart parallel government, definitively ruled out a war as an option.
Meanwhile, RIA reported Tuesday morning that Maduro is hoping to arrest the slide in Venezuelan oil production by boosting output to 2.5 million barrels per day (from less than 1 million b/d currently).
But much to the chagrin of Russian state-controlled oil giant Rosneft, US sanctions against Venezuelan oil firm PDVSA have left a flotilla of ships carrying some 7 million barrels of Venezuelan crude stranded in the Gulf of Mexico. Some of the oil was ordered before the US sanctions came into play, as buyers took advantage of PDVSA's open-market firesales ahead of the sanctions. Other buyers are stashing oil aboard the 12 tankers until they figure out where to put their money, according to Reuters.
According to the US sanctions, payments for Venezuelan oil are supposed to go into escrow accounts that will ultimately be handed over to Guaido. But the accounts haven't been set up yet.
“There were many cargoes of Venezuelan crude already in the Gulf when sanctions were announced,” said a trader who deals with PDVSA. Others are stuck because holders “cannot find who to sell them to due to sanctions,” the trader said.
The tankers had been chartered by regular U.S. buyers of Venezuelan oil, including Chevron Corp, PDVSA’s refining unit Citgo Petroleum and Valero Energy, and trading houses that sell to refiners.
"Everybody is still working through the mechanics of things, still trying to figure out how freights are going to get paid and is sitting on the sidelines waiting for this to roll out," said one ship broker on Monday who was not authorized to speak publicly.
[...]
Separately, a few tankers that had waited for weeks to lift oil bound for U.S. customers left the Venezuelan port of Jose over the weekend without loading, according to Refinitiv data.
The oil fleet in Gulf waters grew as a bottleneck earlier formed around Venezuelan ports by tankers awaiting authorization to load. PDVSA has said it will only sell to certain customers that prepay for cargoes.
Outside of U.S. waters, there were also tankers loaded with Venezuelan crude and idling in the Caribbean and Europe, the Refinitiv data shows.
In another example of how US sanctions can halt global trade in a given asset, we pointed out on Monday how trading in Venezuelan bonds had virtually frozen, with not a single trade crossing the tape on Monday, following US sanctions, as even buyers and sellers in Europe have been de facto barred from trading the bonds.
Of course, foreign buyers of Venezuelan crude who are looking for a workaround of the US dollar-based financial system have at least one option at their disposal: They could always pay for Venezuelan oil in petros.
 
I really like his take on it, which is: Venezuela might’ve failed in their experiment, but it’s not up to the US to go and mandate, it should be up to the people in Venezuela.

That’s what it comes down to I think
 
I really like his take on it, which is: Venezuela might’ve failed in their experiment, but it’s not up to the US to go and mandate, it should be up to the people in Venezuela.

That’s what it comes down to I think
I think that's probably the most objective way of looking at the situation. I've listened to and read some criticism of Chavismo from previous supporters on the Left, as well as from libertarians who are totally anti-neocon but equally anti-socialist. The latter tend to argue that Chavez and Maduro made a mess of things with policies like the following:

-price controls leading to shortages on the production side, which then requires subsidization that just produces more debt and hyperinflation (Maduro apparently has admitted these policies weren't successful, but hasn't proposed anything better) - see Price Controls Are Disastrous for Venezuela, and Everywhere Else | José Niño for example
-confiscating and redistributing private property and businesses, including foreign investors in the oil industry - refusing to fully compensate them alienated them from doing business with Venezuela and contributed to the brain drain (articles on the expropriations and subsequent lawsuits: Expropriations) - like what South Africa is proposing
-firing thousands of industry employees, replacing them with loyalists, which lowered production capacity (plus oils prices fell)

They also point out that the effect of sanctions at the beginning wasn't large. The original sanctions were against select members of the government, not food and medicine. Trump's sanctions are another matter and have had (and will have, with the new ones) a much greater negative effect. Basically, the U.S. are like vultures trying to scoop up a dying economy, and doing what they can to speed up the process to provoke a crisis from which they can benefit.

Then there's a guy like this, who is a leftist and used to be a supporter of Chavez's revolution: The Bolivarian God That Failed - Quillette Creating a giant welfare state may get you support and popularity, but it doesn't mean your policies are any good in the medium to long term.
 
I really like his take on it, which is: Venezuela might’ve failed in their experiment, but it’s not up to the US to go and mandate, it should be up to the people in Venezuela.

That’s what it comes down to I think.

I think, that's the bottom line, too, Alejo.

The Venezuelans are the rightful inheritors of that land and it's their destiny to shape it for future generations.

Take for example, the outright "stealing" of Venezuela wealth by a foreign Government. Who's interests are being served? The US used sanctions to blockade Venezuela's oil tankers, then set's up a special US Fund, to siphon off the profits to bankroll Juan Guaido rise to stardom? Then the US sets up another scheme to make Maduro look like a fool, by sending food and medicine to the Venezuelan/ Colombian Border, then accuses Maduro of blocking aid with trucks and shipping tankers? Maduro "did refuse" the aid stating, "Venezuelans were “not beggars” and he would not let the country be humiliated."

How much do you want to bet -
this humanitarian aid is the same food that was purchased with US funds and taken over the Border to Colombia - stripping the shelves bare awhile back - only to be stock piled in a warehouse - so it could be offered back now, in the form of US Aid???

Venezuela opposition plans to get oil money from U.S. fund
Venezuela opposition plans to get oil money from U.S. fund
FILE PHOTO: Oil facilities are seen on Lake Maracaibo in Cabimas, Venezuela January 29, 2019. REUTERS/Isaac Urrutia/File Photo

Venezuela's opposition on Wednesday said it would use a U.S.-based fund to receive some of the country's oil income in a key step to bankroll its efforts to dislodge President Nicolas Maduro.

The fund would receive income accrued by state-run oil firm PDVSA’s U.S. unit Citgo Petroleum Corp since last month, when U.S. President Donald Trump recognized Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s legitimate head of state, opposition legislator Carlos Paparoni told Reuters.


U.N. warns against politicizing humanitarian aid in Venezuela
The United Nations warned on Wednesday against using aid as a pawn in Venezuela after the United States sent food and medicine to the country's border and accused President Nicolas Maduro of blocking its delivery with trucks and shipping containers.


Russia backs talks between Venezuela's Maduro and opposition: RIA
Russia backs talks between Venezuela's Maduro and opposition: RIA
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov speaks during a meeting with Kyrgyz President Sooronbay Jeenbekov in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan February 4, 2019. Sultan Dosaliev/Kyrgyz Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERS
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov speaks during a meeting with Kyrgyz President Sooronbay Jeenbekov in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan February 4, 2019. Sultan Dosaliev/Kyrgyz Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERS

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that the crisis in Venezuela could only be solved by getting the authorities and the opposition to talk to each other, the RIA news agency reported.

“We continue to believe that the only way to exit this crisis is by sitting the government and opposition down at the negotiating table,” Lavrov was cited as saying by RIA. “Otherwise it will simply be the same regime change that the West had done many times.”
 
-price controls leading to shortages on the production side, which then requires subsidization that just produces more debt and hyperinflation (Maduro apparently has admitted these policies weren't successful, but hasn't proposed anything better) - see Price Controls Are Disastrous for Venezuela, and Everywhere Else | José Niño for example
I read that article, and have my doubts, not necessarily leads to shortages in the production side, depends also in the volume amount of sales of X product, in the article, the author exposed examples of disastrous consequences, but ... Liconsa, its a state-own enterprise company subsidized by the federal goverment (Mexico), that industrialize and commercialize milk bags at very low cost to feed very low income people, it had been operating since 1944. With its highs and lows, trying to use domestic producers and avoid importing milk.

The result could be the same if a product with a profit margin of 30 percent, as a profit margin of 30+ percent, since people don't have enough purchasing power to buy it.

Found this, haven't finished reading it, but I found this part interesting:
https://mronline.org/2017/10/23/economic-warfare-in-venezuela/ said:
Shortage, production, imports, delivery of foreign exchange and consumption
Shortage
According to economic theory, shortage in markets originates either due to an expansion of demand, which is not answered by an increase in supply, or a contraction of supply given a demand. In other words, if consumers demand more goods than they used to and there is no response from suppliers, there will be a shortage in the market (where more goods are demanded than those supplied).

The first manifestation of shortages, according to economic theory, are the queues (the first person to arrive buys the good); another manifestation is the displacement to a parallel market with higher prices (especially if they are goods whose prices are controlled); a third manifestation of shortages is the increase in prices in such markets (people are willing to pay more for the scarce good).

At this point, it is worth asking why consumers demand more quantities of a given good. Consumer theory clearly establishes the factors involved: either because consumer income increased,6 tastes have changed, or expectations have changed.

This last factor, of a mainly psychological nature, has largely explained the consumer behaviour in Venezuela in recent months. News and public opinion campaigns that seek to influence expectations have led to the expansion of demand for some goods.7 This demand will continue expanding as long as the “expectations” variable remains influenced by opinion campaigns.

If an expansion of demand in the market occurs and there is no response from the supplying agent or producers, or worse, the supply of the good in question shrinks, a greater shortage will be generated and, therefore, a greater pressure on the prices of these goods.

But why does supply shrink? Theoretically, it is due to a decrease in levels of production, or in the Venezuelan case, because the levels of imports of goods decreased, or because, even if goods are still produced or imported, they are not available in the markets, which is known as hoarding.

Shortage in Venezuela did not take place in recent months only, but rather is a phenomenon that we have seen with some intensity during the last several years. Figures from the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV in Spanish) and the National Statistics Institute (INE in Spanish) indicate that shortages reached an average of 13.1% between 2003 and 2013.8
...
 
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