It seems like Chavez is simply doubling his bet that the oil price will recover and it will be 2007 again. Not devaluing and not cutting spending, while continuing to drain the reserves – it seems like it won’t stop until the last dollar is gone. He’s probably looking at the rising oil price and thinking he’s going to make it, but much of the recent oil price increase is just a dollar devaluation.

Most of all I get the impression that there is no plan. There is no strategy. Every day every crisis is papered over and covered up with another handful of cash, or just hushed up and denied.