Venezuela looks to S.American leaders as toll hits 20

[MADem]

77. I think actually, they sell it close by, and take the money.

We refine a lot of their oil (it's heavy and sour and we have the refinery capacity to handle that nasty stuff). If they had their shit together, and ran their country like a business, they'd refine their OWN oil--get rid of the middlemen and ship a lighter, smoother, ready-to-use product (for which they can charge much, MUCH more per barrel--the stuff they sell is cheap because it's nasty).

Although (ON EDIT)...I seem to remember them (the Chinese) building a refinery to handle that stuff--but I'm not clear on where I read that. Definitely a subject for research on a rainy day..!

But Maduro doesn't understand how you have to watch your finances so you can afford these kinds of big infrastructure dreams; that would, in the end, pay off handsomely. You can't let your cronies rob the place blind. You can't make stupid payouts to countries that are sucking you dry. He should build an entire system for easy oil distribution, maybe partner with neighbors for pipelines; instead, he's running the place like a drunken farmer's vegetable stand. It's pathetic.

Of course, when Raul says jump, he says How High? It's in Raul's interest to keep Nick on a short leash--Cuba needs that oil, at least for now and until they develop their own energy sector.

You can't even buy a plane ticket with the crappy money anymore.