Maduro took to Twitter this morning to share an optimistic message with his followers regarding the economic situation in the country, as well as Venezuela’s future prospects.
In his message, Maduro said:
I am convinced that today we have better political and moral conditions to defeat all of the evils of the Economic War. I am sure that we will achieve the happiness and stability of every Venezuelan. I have Faith in Victory!
The Maduro regime uses the term “economic war” to refer to a set of actions and conditions that they argue are responsible for the country’s ills, from food and medicine shortages to inflation to power outages. The term has become ubiquitous in speeches by regime officials, and has been in common use since at least the early part of 2014.
Regime critics maintain that Venezuela’s economic problems are in fact caused by nearly two decades of rampant corruption and mismanagement under the banner of the Bolivarian Revolution.
Trump Claims to Have Spoken to Saudi King About Oil Production
United States President Donald Trump said in a tweet this morning that he had spoken to Saudi Arabian king Salman about the world oil market, and that he had asked him to increase oil production by 2 million barrels per day.
Below, Trumps tweet:
As is often the case with Trump’s tweets, it is not at all clear exactly what Trump asked the sovereign to do, or how king Salman took the request.
Saudi Arabia, Iran and Venezuela are all members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which is arguably the single most influential organization as far as global oil prices are concerned. The United States is not a member of OPEC.
Trump may have been referencing the fact that Venezuelan oil production is at historic lows due to corruption and ineptitude at the state-owned PDVSA oil company.
Today, crude oil prices are on the climb after their collapse in mid-2014, when the price of the OPEC Basket fell from $110 to $40 over a period of about six months.
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