Venezuela becoming 'laughing stock', ex-Chavez economic guru says

[Zorro]

Venezuela's economic failings are turning it into the "laughing-stock" of Latin America, according to late president Hugo Chavez's top economic planner.

Former Finance and Planning Minister Jorge Giordani, who was sacked in mid-2014 by Chavez's successor, Nicolas Maduro, said in an interview this week that reforms in the South American OPEC nation are years overdue.

"We should have taken measures from Oct. 7, 2012," Giordani told local website notitimes.com, referring to the date of Chavez's last presidential election victory. Chavez, who was president for 14 years, died of cancer in 2013.

"In truth, we are almost the laughing stock of Latin America," Giordani, 75, said. "If the situation is bad, if the thermometer is at 40 degrees, there are those who blame the thermometer ... We need to acknowledge the crisis, comrades."

http://news.yahoo.com/venezuela-becoming-laughing-stock-ex-chavez-economic-guru-145523476--business.html

[outside]

1. Venezuela

was a socialist paradise on this site just a few years ago. Now the poor wait in line for bread and the government leaders send their families to live in 5 star hotels in Aruba.

[Marksman_91]

2. Giordani was involved in the "bolivarian" process throughout pretty much all of Chavez's presidency

It was only last year that Maduro decided to remove him from his administration. Obviously, Jorge didn't like that. And since he ain't got nothing to lose now, he's telling it like it is about Maduro. I wonder how confused the Chavistas are gonna get due to this. After all, Giordani was the one who handled the government's budget through all of Chávez's years.

[Bacchus4.0]

3. Didn't Giordani attack Maduro last year for not being chavista enough? I think it was him.

While the administration will blow off any attack from the opposition, saying you aren't a good chavista by one of your own has to hurt.

[Marksman_91]

4. Yep, and he made quite a stir

It's not often that one of Chávez's closest ministers says something so critical about the current situation in the country and blames the current administration for it. Nobody in the Nincompoop's administration dares to even mention the subject.