Constitutional Reform in Venezuela

We are two weeks away from the referendum on constitutional changes in Venezuela. An IHT article offers a detailed look at what is happening and what it means.

While not Nicaragua-specific, it is clearly regionally important. In addition, there is a lot of "rumor" about Chávez and this article seems to offer some details. It does suggest some possible "doom and gloom" scenarios but it is left up to you to decide how likely they are.

Combined with price controls that keep farmers from profitably producing some basic foods, climbing incomes of the poorest Venezuelans have stripped supermarket aisles bare of items like milk and eggs. Meanwhile, foreign-exchange controls create bottlenecks for importers seeking to meet rising demand for many products.

Such imbalances plague oil economies elsewhere, with oil revenues often making it cheaper to import goods than produce them at home. But the system Chávez is creating is perhaps unique: a hybrid of state-supported enterprises and no-holds-barred capitalism in which 500,000 automobiles are expected to be sold this year.