Comments on: A gift from Hugo Chavez

By: lrm

lrm — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 02:27:40 +0000

rverriotto: He means a gift for the US,not for Venezuela. By acting too big for his britches,he creates instability which strenghtens the US dollar. However,the US interestingly employs very short term strategies-supplying state of the art military supplies for colombia,when it is not even doing the same for american troops in iraq and afghan.

Also,The USA does the same thing-distracts (tries to distract)the masses by hyper-focusing on the ‘Chavez threat’. C’mon-there’s no way the US is threatened.

Of course,the US also needs to have a reason/excuse to have a stronger/new presence in S.A.,(the bigger interest being oil and overall power over nations in the region),so Chavez makes a great scapegoat,in a way. It’s not unlike Cuba-we need a bogieman,for a variety of reasons.
As already stated in Simon’s post,Chavez poses no real threat. So what gives?

Heck,he cannot even threaten his neighboring countries…anyway,old post,but wanted to comment. Thanks,people,for the insights and comments.

By: Judy

Judy — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:49:14 +0000

Sorry to hear of your accident Simon, we hope that you get well soon.

By: rverriotto

rverriotto — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:44:50 +0000

I lived in Venezuela for a few years and I do not see how anything that Chavez has done could be considered a gift. Seriously, that country is the epitome of “paradise lost” for me. So captivating, so beautiful, so warm and inviting, yet corrupted to her core.

By: J P L

J P L — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:49:03 +0000

Simon-

Great analogy to the Lebanon/Irsrali conflict– the same thing happens to oil all the time, a bit of news of instability and markets get spooked, then return to normal. How do you invest in the colombian Peso? What about their banks? I suppose theywill probably try to keep their currency somewhat weak to help exports, until of course everyone loses all confidence in the good ‘old greenback.is there any alternative?? hope your ribs feel better.

By: Colombian-American Carlos

Colombian-American Carlos — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:37:37 +0000

I would caution this approach. Colombia is actively weakening it’s currency to help it’s exporters (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=aiwf8O6QrWes). Chile tried this last year until they realized they needed the funds too badly and the dollar rally negated the problem (for now). This play wont be ripe until this policy wears thin with this weak latin american government’s pocketbook (they are no China). When we see a US stock plunge with a dollar rally, you might think about it. Personally I find these currency speculations a fools errand. But I would like to know what broker you would use to trade it, as I’ve found little access to latin american currency markets.

By: JL

JL — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:32:56 +0000

Interesting article, but how, pray tell, does one invest in the Colombian peso from the U.S.?? I’ve never seen it offered anywhere and even if I could find a bank to do an exchange, the bid/ask spread would likely chew up any profit. Any thoughts??