We’ll get started with this week’s Venezuela : Down The Rabbit Hole segment in a few but first…Global Voices reports that in Venezuela, 11 million children are of school age, but only 6.5 million are enrolled in the education system, while nearly 200,000 teachers have left classrooms to emigrate or find other professions.

 60% of public schools do not have basic services such as lighting, bathrooms, and internet, which partly explains why 80% of high school graduates fail basic skills tests, according to a study by Andres Bello Catholic University. These are but a few examples of the desperate state of affairs in the education system.

 So, how does the Maduro regime address the situation? They created CDCE (Center for the Development of Educational Quality). OK, sounds good…So, how are they helping improve things in the school system? Well, they aren’t.

 CDCE promotes and shows educational achievements (what few there are) on social media, in contrast to all the teacher’s protests for poor salaries and lack of resources.

 It’s just another part of the Maduro regime’s propaganda machine responsible for 95% of the traffic on social media. That is quintessential Chavismo.

 Then we have World Oil telling us that Exxon Mobil formally approved it’s 6th oil development offshore Guyana, that will make the Latin American country a bigger crude oil producer than OPEC member (founding member) Venezuela.

 Exxon said in it’s statement that Guyana’s production will climb to 1.3 million bpd (barrels per day) by 2027,  in just eight years after it began producing oil.

 Venezuela, on the other hand, has gone from producing 3.5 million bpd, pre- Chavismo, to about 800,000 bpd currently, which is up from 350,000 bpd in 2020.

 Venezuela’s oil production faces significant challenges, brought on by the Chavistas and the Maduro regime. Near term, Venezuela sanctions reimposed due to the Maduro regime’s failure to enact electoral reforms and return Venezuela toward democracy, although the effect of the re-imposition of sanctions remains to be seen, given the Biden administration’s prior demonstration of weakness and lack of principles.

 Venezuela’s longer term outlook for production is bleak. As we’ve reported before, the Chavistas have allowed Venezuela’s oil infrastructure to deteriorate to the point where it will take $10 billion per year for ten years to restore oil production to pre- Chavismo levels.

 Now, lets head Down The Rabbit Hole…

 Chapter 7/ The Real War…

 Almost from day one of Maduro’s tenure he has referred to “la guerra economica”the economic war being waged against Venezuela. I would like to take this opportunity to demonstrate my bipartisanship with the Chavistas. I totally agree that there has been an economic war being waged against Venezuela. Unfortunately, it’s the war Chavismo has been waging against the Venezuelan people.

 Many people like to, more or less, give Hugo Chavez a pass when it comes to the horrific situation in Venezuela. I am not one of them. Chavez planted the seeds of “21st Century Bolivarian Socialism” and was the beneficiary of historically high oil prices and unprecedented (and unnecessary) borrowing, which enabled him to delay the consequences of his disastrous policies. Chew on this :

 There is no better means to control a population than food insecurity. It’s hard to focus on much of anything when you’re busy scrounging for something to eat or trying to scrape together a little money to buy some food. It’s certainly a challenge to find the energy to protest when you’re weak from missing meals so your children can eat. This has been the situation in Venezuela for years, basically since Maduro took power in 2013.

 Pre-Chavismo, Venezuela produced 70% of it’s food and imported 30%. Over the years of “The Revolution” the 70/30 split reversed course to 30/70 years ago and today produces virtually nothing. It was easy enough to see the signs of what was coming. I remember seeing a video of a Chavez rally at a square in Caracas. He pointed to a building and shouted to his supporters “Who owns that building?…We’re taking it for The Revolution!” Remember Margaret Thatcher saying that the problem with socialism is sooner or later they run out of other people’s money? Chavez got it cranked up early taking from everyone, to the cheers of his supporters. In the two and a half decades of Chavismo and 21st Century Bolivarian Socialism they have reduced the number of private companies in Venezuela by 80%. Now, of course, all those companies were not food-related, but many of them were. And one area he went after was all food-related, agriculture. Those cheering crowds would soon disappear, along with their food.

 Venezuela has an abundance of arable land so it has always produced a sizeable quantity of fruit, vegetables, and grains as well as raising plenty of livestock. That is, until “The Revolution” came along. An easy target for Chavez to please his cheering throngs was dormant farmland. Early on, Chavez went after the farmers saying that he was going to free the people from those “greedy elitists”. They had so much land they they couldn’t even use it all! Uhh… Hey Hugo… have you ever heard of crop rotation so the soil can rejuvenate? I guess not.

 More tomorrow….