From the Beginning

Electricity crisis deepens recession in Venezuela

2010-03-05T15:03:00.003-04:30

Authors:José Alberto López Rafaschieri and Luis Alberto López Rafaschieri www.morochos.net According to the Central Bank of Venezuela, the country's economy shrank -5.8% in the last quarter of last year. We cannot ignore that the electricity crisis got out the government's control in the same period, so it certainly was in part responsible for this GDP contraction that was worse than the

Will Insulza be re-elect in the OAS?

2010-03-05T11:29:00.003-04:30

Authors:Luis Alberto López Rafaschieri and José Alberto López Rafaschieri www.morochos.net The vote to elect the Secretary General of the OAS is scheduled for March 24, 2010, and Hillary Clinton, probably not coincidentally, was sent to Latin America just days before this election. In 2005, the vote was complicated by a strong tie, broken precisely by the U.S. by convincing the

Valdes in Venezuela, exiled?

2010-02-25T10:37:00.002-04:30

Authors:Luis Alberto López Rafaschieri and José Alberto López Rafaschieri www.morochos.net Obviously, the presence of General Valdes in Venezuela is closely related to the Cuban colonization process that Chavez has been promoting. However, from the perspective of Raul Castro, the exit of Valdes from Cuba could have further implications. Since Raul took power in Cuba, the changes

Latin American Unity Summit: Yes to Castro, no to Lobo

2010-02-22T17:23:00.000-04:30

Authors: José Alberto López Rafaschieri and Luis Alberto López Rafaschieri www.morochos.net The Rio Group is met in Mexico in the so-called "Unity Summit of Latin America and the Caribbean”. This meeting will discuss a series of regional issues, but it is noteworthy that the president of Honduras was not invited for failing to meet democratic standards of some of the

Venezuelan legislative election: Chavista leaders are not Chavez

2010-02-19T16:34:00.003-04:30

Authors:Luis Alberto López Rafaschieri and José Alberto López Rafaschieri www.morochos.net One the major difficulties faced by Hugo Chavez in the legislative elections of September 2010, is the popularity of his candidates. It is not the same to be a Chavez fan than a follower of the PSUV candidates, as seen in past non-presidential elections in Venezuela. Chavez has always proven far more

Polls for Venezuela's legislative election

2010-02-13T11:09:00.002-04:30

Authors:José Alberto López Rafaschieri and Luis Alberto López Rafaschieri www.morochos.net Venezuelans will elect a new National Assembly on September 26, 2010. In these elections, the first opinion surveys indicate that the race will be interesting. According to Consultores 21, if parliamentary elections take place at this moment, the opposition candidates would count with 52%

Venezuelan exports encouraged by devaluation?

2010-02-05T15:29:00.003-04:30

Authors:Luis Alberto López Rafaschieri and José Alberto López Rafaschieri www.morochos.net The maxi-devaluation against the bolivar, decreed by Chavez earlier this year, is seen by some economists as an exchange rate adjustment that would benefit the Venezuelan exporting sector, as their prices become cheaper to buyers with dollars. This idea has its foundation in the business

Venezuelan electricity crisis addressed a la Cubana

2010-01-27T12:02:00.003-04:30

Authors:Luis Alberto López Rafaschieri and José Alberto López Rafaschieri www.morochos.net Venezuela's government could solve the energy crisis with 3 billion dollars and a phone call to China to acquire the necessary technology, increasing with this the national power generation system. Unfortunately, although Venezuela has the economic resources to exit the electricity crisis,

Uribe's inadequate budget cut

2010-01-20T15:51:00.002-04:30

Authors:José Alberto López Rafaschieri and Luis Alberto López Rafaschieri www.morochos.net In Colombia, considering the bad results of employment and economic growth, it seems unreasonable the cut of nearly $300 million, announced by President Alvaro Uribe, in government spending for 2010. Although the government justified the cuts by appealing to the public deficit reduction, it does not

Electricity in Venezuela, Three Gorges or Russian weapons?

2010-01-18T16:33:00.004-04:30

Authors:Luis Alberto López Rafaschieri and José Alberto López Rafaschieri www.morochos.net It's no secret that President Chavez has spent billions of dollars on weapons. Money that, given the many other needs of Venezuela, could well be spent on improving the electrical system of this country. According to sources of the Russian newspaper PRAVDA, the estimated total costs of

Maxi-devaluation in Venezuela, without a rise in prices?

2010-01-13T15:45:00.003-04:30

Authors:Luis Alberto López Rafaschieri and José Alberto López Rafaschieri www.morochos.net No, it is not an idea from a parallel universe, is from Chavez: He is trying to enact a maxi-devaluation without increasing prices. That is, the Chavez government diminishes the value of the object that pays for goods and services in Venezuela, but expects the same purchasing power as

Chavez's black Friday

2010-01-11T16:51:00.002-04:30

Authors:José Alberto López Rafaschieri and Luis Alberto López Rafaschieri www.morochos.net On January 8, the Chavez government announced a devaluation of 21% -the bolivar goes from 2.15 to 2.60 per dollar- on the official currency to import food, medicine and some basic services. While the devaluation will be of 100% -the bolivar goes from 2.15 to 4.30 per dollar- on the official

Polls for Costa Rica's presidential election

2010-01-08T17:35:00.002-04:30

Authors:José Alberto López Rafaschieri and Luis Alberto López Rafaschieri www.morochos.net On February 7, there will be elections in Costa Rica to choose president and parliament. In them, the ruling party is the favorite, beating the voting intention of all his opponents combined. Based on the latest opinion poll, Laura Chinchilla -PNL- owns 46.6% of the electorate, followed by

Venezuela 2010: Stagnation with hyperinflation

2010-01-06T16:26:00.003-04:30

Authors:Luis Alberto López Rafaschieri and José Alberto López Rafaschieri www.morochos.net The IMF, the local schools of economy and the Venezuelan independent business chambers agree: Venezuela's economic expectation for 2010 is a scenario of stagnation. The IMF expects growth of -0.4% for the GDP of Venezuela, despite the major economies are already in the recovery phase after

Ecuador's government, the most fragile of South America

2009-12-29T12:16:00.002-04:30

Authors:José Alberto López Rafaschieri and Luis Alberto López Rafaschieri www.morochos.net The closing of radio Arutam and Teleamazonas by Rafael Correa's administration are not chance events, behind this onslaught against the media is the face of a weakened government. Although Correa has not done so badly in the economic sphere, his lack of social outcomes, his authoritarian style, his ties

Chile invited to join OECD earlier than Venezuela

2009-12-18T14:36:00.002-04:30

Authors:Luis Alberto López Rafaschieri and José Alberto López Rafaschieri www.morochos.net While some governments in Latin America are threatening to abandon the OAS, the UN and any multilateral organization not willing to support the anti-democratic ideas of the radical left in the region, Chile has just recently joined the OECD -the Organization for Economic Cooperation and

On the Mexican strategy of hedging oil prices

2009-12-12T10:58:00.002-04:30

Authors:José Alberto López Rafaschieri and Luis Alberto López Rafaschieri www.morochos.net It is a fact that the budgets of oil-exporting countries are subject to the vagaries of international prices of this product; however, nations like Mexico are betting on a new way to protect them against sudden drops in the price of crude oil: Financial hedging instruments. Because 40% of

Criticism of Chavez's military strategy: Destruction of the national productive sector

2009-12-04T12:14:00.002-04:30

Authors:Luis Alberto López Rafaschieri and José Alberto López Rafaschieri www.morochos.net According to figures from CONINDUSTRIA, when Chavez became president in 1999, there were over 12 thousand factories operating in Venezuela. However, due to the Chavez's anti-private sector policies, Venezuela has today less than 2 thousand operating factories. Not to mention that many

Polls for Chile's presidential election

2009-12-02T16:54:00.004-04:30

Authors:José Alberto López Rafaschieri and Luis Alberto López Rafaschieri www.morochos.net On December 13, there will be held the first round of elections to choose who will become the next president of Chile. An election where Sebastian Piñera apparently has a comfortable lead. This is reflected in the latest survey, conducted by Universidad del Desarrollo, in which appears

Criticism of Chavez's military strategy: National fragmentation

2009-11-30T17:07:00.002-04:30

Authors:Luis Alberto López Rafaschieri and José Alberto López Rafaschieri www.morochos.net No war expert has ever proposed to divide a country to strengthen it, quite the contrary. However, since Chavez came to power in Venezuela, one of his main objectives has been to strictly separate Venezuelans, working to ensure that the population remains divided into two halves that hate

Polls for Bolivia's presidential election

2009-11-20T14:54:00.003-04:30

Authors:José Alberto López Rafaschieri and Luis Alberto López Rafaschieri www.morochos.net Next December 6, Bolivians will go to general elections in order to elect president and parliament. In this election, according to Bolivia's new constitution, the current president may seek re-election. Something that seems quite possible considering the latest opinion poll. We refer to

Others consume more electricity than Venezuela, without blackouts

2009-11-17T16:59:00.004-04:30

Authors:Luis Alberto López Rafaschieri and José Alberto López Rafaschieri www.morochos.net Leaving out what they say about the phenomenon of El Niño, there are two excuses used by Chavistas to justify the current electricity crisis in Venezuela: that our country is now so prosperous that consumes much electricity, and that Venezuelans are wasteful. However, if we look at the

Poll: A majority in favor of the Colombia-US military agreement

2009-11-13T15:17:00.002-04:30

Authors:Luis Alberto López Rafaschieri and José Alberto López Rafaschieri www.morochos.net During October 2009, we made the following question to the visitors of our Spanish website Morochos.org: Your opinion about the agreement that allows the U.S. military to use Colombian bases is: We gave two options and each received the following percentage of votes... 1) In favor, 57%

Polls for Honduras' presidential election

2009-11-11T16:39:00.003-04:30

Authors:José Alberto López Rafaschieri and Luis Alberto López Rafaschieri www.morochos.net A general election is scheduled, on 29 November, in order to give solution to the political crisis in Honduras. There, the main competitors are Porfirio Lobo Sosa -from the National Party- and Elvin Santos – from the Liberal Party-. According to a Gallup poll made from 13 to 19 October, 37%

The sucre and the exchange rate stability

2009-11-05T09:12:00.002-04:30

Authors:José Alberto López Rafaschieri and Luis Alberto López Rafaschieri www.morochos.net One theme that emerges from the ALBA proposal to establish the sucre as a common currency, is the exchange rate stability. From a macroeconomic perspective, the smallest economies are the most vulnerable to domestic and international events. In that sense, a common currency would be