Recently, Hugo Chavez appeared before the National Assembly to deliver one of his typical speeches, lasting over 7 hours during which he hardly said anything meaningful. It was meaningless banter that thrilled his supporters, who stood and applauded their leader. For the rest of the world, Chavez’s annual report to the public is just another display of the contempt the tyrant holds for the Venezuelan people. In any case, since the goal is to inform citizens about issues that concern us all, I will continue with a series of statistical data that I will call the Dictator Hugo Chavez’s Report. The GDP of the Chavez regime from 1999 to 2009 amounted to just over 1.82 trillion dollars, while the combined GDP of the 8 administrations before Chavez from 1960-1998 was just above 1.6 trillion dollars. Now, these figures need perspective. Since the World Bank’s external debt indicator for Venezuela as a percentage of GDP lacks data, I found another that shows the total external debt.
The graph indicates that the GDP generated in the country since Chavez took power, over 1.8 trillion dollars, has not been enough for him. Additionally, the public external debt increased from 37.762 billion in 1998 to 54.502 billion dollars in 2009. This means that the dictator raised Venezuela’s external debt by 69.3%. This increase does not account for internal debt or debts acquired by PDVSA. The figures for internal debt were obtained from the National Office of Public Credit (ONCP), which is an official entity, as shown in the following box:
The internal public debt rose from 3.831 billion bolivars in 1999 to 83.047 billion bolivars in 2010. The ONCP document clarifies that the exchange rate used for calculating internal debt is provided by the Central Bank of Venezuela as of September 30, 2010, being 2.60 Bs / USD, which represents an additional amount of 31.941 billion dollars on top of the previously mentioned external debt. Therefore, the total now stands at 86.443 billion dollars, combining both internal and external debts.
But it doesn’t stop there. As I explained in a previous article, if Venezuela is akin to a grocery store, the GDP represents all the money that comes into the store over an economic period (usually one year) from the sale of goods and services. The previous administrators of Venezuela set up another store called PDVSA, which greatly contributes to total revenues. The current PDVSA, now managed by Chavez’s supporters, increased its debt by 39.7% in 2010, which roughly amounts to 29.900 billion dollars. It hardly needs to be said that PDVSA’s debts are Venezuela’s debts, given that that grocery store belongs to all Venezuelans. Thus, apart from the 1.8 trillion dollars that Chavez has seen pass through his hands, his regime has taken on an additional 116.343 billion dollars in debt.
According to the Inter-American Development Bank, Venezuela’s external debt percentage in 1998 was 31.9% of a GDP of 85.850 billion dollars, meaning the total debt was 27.386 billion dollars according to those figures. If Venezuela’s GDP in 2009 was 326.132 billion dollars, and it contracted by 1.9% in 2010, this implies that GDP in 2010 was approximately 319.935 billion dollars. Therefore, the public debt as a percentage of GDP rose to 36.4% in 2010. That 36.4% might not say much in percentage terms, but when we compare the 27.386 billion from 1998 with the 116.343 billion from 2010, it’s clear that Chavez has more than quadrupled the debt in these twelve years.
So what has Chavez done with all that money? If we are to believe his supporters, Venezuela is now a paradise on earth. Undoubtedly, for many Chavez supporters, it is, given that they’re embezzling money freely and enjoying levels of power they couldn’t have imagined. Chavez has made investments. For example, he spent over 33.000 billion dollars on weapons. He has wasted billions expanding his so-called revolution worldwide. He has distributed money haphazardly, exemplifying the old saying, “if it costs us nothing, let’s throw a party.” Still, one must ask: after all that spending, has the infrastructure in Venezuela improved? How many new hospitals, universities, schools, ports, airports, highways, and roads have been constructed? Given that Chavez has received in 12 years more money than the 8 previous administrations combined, can one indeed say that Chavez has achieved 8 times more than his predecessors?
Let’s take one indicator: the number of homes built. According to statistics from the Venezuelan Chamber of Construction and the Venezuelan Real Estate Chamber, between 1969 and 1998, there were 2.033.481 homes constructed:
655.699 between 1969 and 1978; 759.632 between 1979 and 1988; 618.150 between 1989 and 1998.
How many has Chavez’s regime built between 1999 and 2010, with a significantly larger budget? Just 296.047 housing units, which is 14% of the homes built with much smaller budgets in comparison. It’s worth repeating: the democratically elected governments, GDP = 1.6 trillion dollars; Chavez’s regime, GDP = 1.8 trillion dollars. We could look at any other indicators: poverty, violence, unemployment… This is the kind of issue I would like to see highlighted in the media and in the newly sworn-in Assembly. Not to mention Chavez’s associations with ETA, with FARC, and the billions he has handed over to the Cuban dictator. This is the report of the dictator Hugo Chavez and his administration of incompetent criminals.