The Book
In praise of Blogging the Revolution
“Caracas Chronicles has been an indispensable source of lucidity and perspective in these turbulent times in Venezuela. Toro and Nagel have been right on target, without pretending to be ludicrously impartial; they have been able to rise above polarization, trying hard to make sense of an often implausible reality. Blogging the Revolution shows them at their best. If you are not already a fan, you will become one.”
- Francisco J. Monaldi, RFK Visiting Professor at Harvard Kennedy School and Director, Center on Energy at IESA in Caracas.Recent Comments
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Tag Archives: Fonden
#DondeEstánLosReales
An expanded version of that Reuters story just came out in Spanish, with extra juicy detail. Here’s a fun one: La fábrica de fertilizantes en Puerto Nutrias, un pequeño pueblo de los llanos venezolanos, ha pasado tanto tiempo paralizada que … Continue reading
Into Fonden’s Heart of Darkness
Rushing in where angels fear to tread, Reuters today publishes an in-depth special report on Fonden, the off-budget, off-the-record, off-its-rocker spending fund at the heart of the chavista accountability black hole. It’s an amazing read. The report is explicit on … Continue reading
Petrocaudillism, Churrigueresque Edition
So, our old friend Fonden – executive organ of Hankypankistan – has gone ahead and started issuing its own bonds! My first thought was, “great! if you ask people to lend you money, you have to tell them where your … Continue reading
Fonden’s Accounting is all Greek to Me
Maybe it’s only because I’m a Fonden fanatic, but I really think Francisco Rodríguez’s new research note (link now corrected) for Bank of America/Merrill Lynch should shoot to the top of any self-respecting Venezuela wonk’s reading list. So go ahead and read it … Continue reading
Why Fonden accounting is never going to add up…
Deep in his comment section, the Satanic Bowel Movement turns up the smoking gun in the case for thinking Fonden’s books will never ever make sense to an outside auditor: this line item for 60 million “dollars” to wind up the … Continue reading
Where does Fonden money go?
So now that we have those Fonden disclosure documents, it’s time to jump into the minutiae. Of course, we only have detailed 5-year disclosures for $40 billion out of the $69 billion Fonden has apparently assigned, but beggars can’t be … Continue reading
Fonden isn’t just “Big”, it’s this big.
Perhaps the most important aspect of The Fonden Papers doesn’t have to do with the $29 billion tabulation screw-up. Indeed, innocent explanations might account for that. Perhaps the big deal instead has to do with simply getting, for the first … Continue reading
How exactly do you misplace $29,342,391,393.66?
This isn’t a massive, government-shaking scandal. But it should be. That’s right, it’s the full, scanned version of the Fonden report we promised you two weeks ago: the one sent by Finance Minister Jorge Giordani, in response to a parliamentary … Continue reading
9,621,334,845.49 vs. 314
Nine billion Six-hundred and twenty-one million Three hundred and thirty four thousand Eight-hundred and forty five dollars and forty-nine cents. That, according to new revelations from Mérida National Assembly member Carlos Ramos, is how many US dollars Fonden spent last … Continue reading
So, how did we get screwed this Semana Santa?
Ah, the holiday-smoke-screened Fuck-You Decree: it’s almost as much a Venezuelan Easter Tradition as enormous traffic jams and Bipolar Pisillo. This year, Chávez stuck to the classics. Nothing fancy, just a good, old fashioned nobody’s-reading-newspapers-this-week massive money grab. With Venezuelan oil … Continue reading
Ten black boxes
Over in CrónicasdeCaracas.net, a frustrated rant on the sheer impossibility of figuring out how much the government spends.
Posted in Corruption
Tagged Fonden
