WASHINGTON — Venezuela is in a state of economic freefall, with hyper-inflation pushing over 70 percent of the country’s population into poverty.
Frequent blackouts, water outages, and shortages of basic goods including medicines have prompted worries of an imminent public health emergency. And with civil discontent and street demonstrations becoming more frequent, the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has declared a 60-day state of emergency.
But alongside the growing concern over Venezuela, the country’s challenges are also having a less visible but widespread impact – shaking the foundations energy markets in Central America and the Caribbean. For the past 11 years, Venezuela has provided cheap credit to 17 of its poorest neighbors in the form of the Petrocaribe oil alliance. Diverse countries like Belize, Cuba, Guyana, Jamaica, Nicaragua, and Suriname are all part of the alliance .... http://www.csmonitor.com
