We’ll go Down The Rabbit Hole in a sec but first…Here are a few articles, all with the same theme:

 Budapest Times reports that Hungary wants to make use of the possibility of energy cooperation with Venezuela and is exploring ways to import LNG (liquified natural gas) and export oil extraction technology to the Latin American Country, according to Hungarian Foreign Minister, Peter Szijjerto, who met with his Venezuelan counterpart, Yvan Gil.

 Then we have Belta reporting that Belarus and Venezuela are preparing a meeting of the joint committee on trade and economic cooperation, according to a release from the Belarus Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

 The meeting is scheduled for later this month and it’s possible other states, like Cuba, could be included in the cooperation scheme.

 Then we have IndraStra reporting that India is actively contemplating diversifying it’s oil procurement in response to declining crude imports caused by soaring global oil prices, with a potential revival of trade with Venezuela in the near future, according to Petroleum Minister, Hardeep Singh Puri.

 And a few more quick ones :

 From the Wall Street Journal, “Qatar pursues oil deal after brokering sanctions deal”

 From Vietnam Plus, “CPV delegation pays working visit to Venezuela”

 From Iran International, “Iran Nurtures Ambitions for the Venezuela Oil Market”

 OK, so what’s the point of all these blurbs? Well, when you combine them with various articles we’ve brought you recently, they demonstrate a disturbing trend.It appears that a lot of companies and countries have forgotten why so many companies and countries stopped doing business with the Maduro regime in the first place.

 Maduro and the Chavistas have screwed basically everyone on basically every deal they ever made. It happened years before sanctions were initiated so Chavismo’s unscrupulous business practices aren’t related to sanctions.

 Has the Maduro regime shown us anything that would indicate they are a more trustworthy business partner? NO! Given the tenuous nature of the sanctions relief…What are these people thinking?

 Now, let’s head Down The Rabbit Hole…

 Chapter 1/ continued…

 …As all this was happening there was another situation developing. Many of the Cuban doctors used their participation in Barrio Adentro as an escape mechanism. They came to Venezuela from Cuba, where they earned very little, and found that due to the terms agreed upon by the two governments they would earn even less. (Can you say “indentured servitude”? ) Very quietly their ranks thinned (Those without family still in Cuba as de facto hostages) as they would visit other South American countries and simply not return. What’s the big deal? When there’s 25,000 of ’em who cares if a few go missing? The sun is shining and it’s a beautiful day.

 THEN IT BEGAN TO RAIN

 Shortly after the death of Hugo Chavez from cancer (It’s worth noting that he chose to have his cancer treated in Cuba, not Venezuela) the price of oil fell off a cliff, from well over $100 a barrel to under $30. When you receive over 96% of your revenue (legal anyway) from oil exports THAT”S A PROBLEM

 By this time even the extraordinarily constructed national oil company (once the envy of the world) was falling victim to Chavista policies and production had fallen by roughly a million barrels per day. Again, when you receive over 96% of your revenue from oil exports THAT”S A PROBLEM

 In the first year and a half of Maduro’s tenure the Chinese complied with his requests to borrow more money and lent him another $10 billion. After 2015 they told him there would be no new money and all funding from Russia was oil and arms related. Since none of their other allies really had any money there would be no more borrowing. THAT”S A PROBLEM

 So now it’s raining cats and dogs, you’re underfunded and understaffed…What do you do? Simple, deny that there’s a problem and fire the Health Minister! They even had one Health Minister that only lasted a week because she was under the mistaken impression that she was actually supposed to do something. When she responded to the WHO’s (World Health Organization’s) request for a report on epidemiology she was immediately fired. The Chavistas had been denying the existence of all these previously eradicated diseases and she violated the ultimate edict of Chavismo, “Tell them nothing!”

 More tomorrow….