Venezuela Braces for Economic Collapse

[MsAmerica]

Venezuela Braces for Economic Collapse From U.S. Blockade
Venezuela could lose the bulk of its oil export revenues this year if the U.S. blockade stays in place, according to internal government estimates, a scenario that would set off a humanitarian crisis.
By Anatoly Kurmanaev

Even before American forces blasted their way into Venezuela’s capital and seized President Nicolás Maduro on Saturday, the nation was already facing dire economic prospects.

The partial blockade imposed by the United States on Venezuela’s energy exports was expected to shutter more than 70 percent of the country’s oil production this year and wipe out its dominant source of public revenue, according to people briefed on Venezuela’s internal projections compiled in December.

The Trump administration’s decision last month to begin targeting tankers carrying Venezuelan crude to Asian markets had paralyzed the state oil company’s exports. To keep the wells pumping, the state oil company, known as PDVSA, had been redirecting crude oil into storage tanks and turning tankers idling in ports into floating storage facilities.

This strategy merely bought the company some time before it ran out of storage for the pumped oil it was unable to sell. TankerTrackers, a shipping data firm, estimated late last month that Venezuela had enough spare storage until the end of January.

But production could collapse swiftly after that, the people briefed said.

If the blockade held, the Venezuelan government expected national oil production to collapse from about 1.2 million barrels per day late last year to less than 300,000 later this year, said the people briefed — a drop that would significantly reduce the government’s ability to import goods and maintain basic services. The people had access to the projections and discussed them on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Mr. Maduro’s capture has only added more uncertainty to these projections...

But if the blockade holds, the country would face a catastrophe, they added.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/06/world/americas/venezuela-us-blockade-economy-oil.html

US oil blockade of Venezuela pushes Cuba toward collapse
https://www.wsj.com/world/americas/u-s-oil-blockade-of-venezuela-pushes-cuba-toward-collapse-75289b5b?mod=RSSMSN

Venezuela's economy has already collapsed "largely driven by domestic economic policies, although sanctions have played a role more recently". Their "self-destructive economic framework led to the largest ever economic decline outside war,"

https://www.economicsobservatory.com/why-did-venezuelas-economy-collapse

Socialist economic policy always causes suffering to the people.

It will be interesting to see whether Trump turns over the money from the latest sales of Venezuelan oil, currently in 'his' offshore Qatari account, to the gov't and people of Venezuela.

And more importantly, how much of it sticks to his own fingers.

Socialist economic policy always causes suffering to the people.

I and most people I know have suffered far more under neoliberalism than we would have done under Britain’s post war socialist social contracts. The existence of age-related inequality and different economic experiences backs our experience up on the national level.

Neoliberalism brought lying and propaganda back into play as a normal and fully acceptable political tool. It never will be acceptable to me.

Exactly. I'm sure he'll try to pocket as much as he can.