Fausta's Blog

American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

Archives for 2017

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China, the WTO, and Latin America

Mac Margolis: China is the dragon at Latin America’s door

In 2001, China joined the WTO on the understanding that over the ensuing 15 years it would strive to abide by the rules of free commerce by lowering trade barriers, freeing up its currency and pricing its exports according to supply and demand. In return, member states would implicitly agree to recognize China as a grown-up market economy, a crucial upgrade for the world’s second-richest nation.
. . .
As of Dec. 11, each member state must decide for itself whether China is behaving as a market economy. Those who do but also claim that China is breaking the WTO rules now must unpack China’s manufacturing costs, a vexing task in a land where the state also doubles as corporate CEO.

Relations with China range from the individual countries (Chile, Costa Rica, Peru) who signed bilateral free-trade agreements, to those who didn’t. Margolis mentions Argentina which in 2016 petitioned the WTO 11 times against alleged Chinese dumping.

Add to the mix President-elect Trump’s calls for protectionism.

2017 is going to be interesting.

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Venezuela: And now, for a bond buyback?

LAHT reports that, in the first bond deal for any Chinese bank in Venezuela, Mysteriously, Venezuela Sells $5 Billion in Bonds to Itself

The embattled government of Nicolas Maduro sold $5 billion in new debt bonds to itself via a Chinese bank without the mandatory approval of the Venezuelan National Assembly, according to an opposition lawmaker and a financial website Monday.

“On December 29th the government of Maduro contracted in an illegal manner a loan with a Chinese bank for $5 billion,” lawmaker Jose Guerra tweeted Monday. Guerra also provided a link to Cbonds, a website that offers financial information. The post in Cbonds reads: “New bond issue: Venezuela has issued international bonds for USD 5 billion maturing in 2036 with a 6.5% coupon.”

The new bond also appeared in the Bloomberg bond trading system but a check of Euroclear, the most important bond clearing agent, came up with the response that the International Security Identification Number (ISIN) for the bond – USP97475AQ39 — was “either confidential or has not been found. It is therefore not available for inquiry.”

While CBonds says that the Issue manager is Haitong International Securities, Bloomberg lists Haitong Bank, S.A.

Haitong is the second largest firm in the Chinese securities industry by total and net assets. Haitong Bank, S.A. is the investment banking subsidiary based in Lisbon, Portugal, and has offices in Mexico City and Sao Paulo.

And the bonds apparently are “physical delivery,” i.e., you actually have to show up with your clipped coupon in hand – which reminds you of the bearer bonds Hans Gruber was trying to steal in 1988’s Die Hard.

But I digress.

Russ Dallen of the Venezuela Opportunity Fund explains that Haitong bought Portugal’s Banco Espirito after it went broke in 2014 (emphasis added),

“Venezuela and PDVSA were important clients of Espirito Santo — so important that Espirito Santo actually set up a local bolivar bank in Venezuela. So it is not a surprise that Venezuela turned to those same bankers for this deal,”

and, as for those old-fashioned bearer bonds,

“Most developed nations have done away with them,” says Dallen. “But they are a favorite of drug dealers, money launderers and others who seek anonymity as well as a way to move large amounts of cash internationally in just a briefcase.”

More on the shenanigans at the link.

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Venezuela: Unhappy new year

While Venezuela Releases Ex-Presidential Candidate Rosales, Student Activists (Rosales will remain under house arrest), David Paulin writes about Nicolás Maduro’s fantasy Christmas,

Maduro, the True Believer, puts political ideology above grim reality. He is thus clueless about the fact that his rosy television spot shows holiday scenes that no longer exist in Venezuela — not after decades of bread-and-circuses populism culminating in what the late Hugo Chávez, the firebrand socialist and Maduro’s mentor, called “21st century socialism.” Now as in communist Cuba, Venezuela has achieved true social equality: everybody is poor. Cuba and Venezuela are close allies.

Caracas Chronicles has the roundups:
End-of-the-year Social Conflict Map Update

Eddy’s 2016 Roundup

A stroll down the festering crack-den that was Venezuela in 2016, as seen through Caracas Chronicles. Courtesy of Eddy, who wishes you a Happy 2017.

Presenting the Golden Tropical Mierda Awards

And here’s Venezuela News and View’s vision of 2017.

The military, however, makes money by trafficking food as the people continue to go hungry. Cue Venezuela’s Ration Cards:

So there we have it, the infamous ‘ration card’ – the end result in every communist country. China, Cuba, Nicaragua, the Soviet Union, Angola and Mozambique.



Venezuelans are fleeing to Brazil for medical care, overwhelming its hospitals and morgues.

Venezuelans Hawk Snacks on Dominican Streets as Revolution Dies (video below the fold)
[Read more…]

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Argentine: Sacre vache! Depardieu sans chemise!

Argentina: Holy cow! Depardieu shirtless!

I almost feel bad for the guy, but, hey, he’s an object lesson on why one should avoid heavy drinking and overeating, especially after a quintuple bypass. Carlos Eire has the details:
Photos of the Day: Babalú’s favorite French actor goes shirtless in Argentina

Deep-dish Castrophile Gerard Depardieu took off his shirt while rehearsing a play in Buenos Aires.

Apparently, the theater was trop chaud  —demasiado caliente — for the French thespian who once boasted of drinking 14 bottles of wine per day, but now claims to be totally sober.

Depardieu was a close friend of the late Fidel Castro and recently lamented the death of his “great friend.”

The larger-than-life gourmand has gone hunting in Cuba with Fidel and Raul, and once boasted that his relationship with Fidel was based on their common passion for eating.

While Depardieu is Babalú’s favorite French actor, my favorite French actor at the moment is this guy:

And Grégory will look great while sweaty.

(If you want to see more of Grégory, watch Engrenages on Netflix.)

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