Juan Cristóbal says: - Ridiculous deadlines are preventing us from posting more regularly, but ridiculous headlines bring us back. So, we couldn't pass up the delicious irony of this little nugget: the IMF has apparently loaned $3.5 billion to the Central Bank of Venezuela. Yes, that's billions of dollars, not roubles.Two years ago, Hugo Chávez announced he was pulling Venezuela from the IMF and the World Bank. Lucky for him, he never made good on his threat, 'cause now it looks like he's getting a quickie loan.
I just can't get my head around this one: the IMF bailing out Hugo Chávez. I could go on and on about how Chávez has railed against the "destabilizing" role of the IMF, but suffice it to say that if there's a Museum of Hypocrisy somewhere, they should put this in the Chávez Wing. Why just today, Finance Minister Alí Rodríguez is proudly announcing that Venezuela is making progress in its quest for "independence" from the IMF and the World Bank, which impose "outrageous" conditions in exchange for help. He should know!
So far, the Wall Street Journal, on a feed from Dow Jones, is the only news organization carrying this. If this is confirmed to be true, kudos to Jose Guerra for blowing the whistle on it.
