Venezuela……How Much Longer?

A recent New York Times editorial, brings to light the current state of affairs in Venezuela and that state of affairs is dire. Regardless of one’s political leanings, it has become apparent that things in Venezuela cannot continue down this path for much longer.

There were a couple of things in the editorial that really jumped out at me. One was the constant referencing of Mr. Chavez. It seems to me that political parties that continue to bring up what they consider their glory days – the 14 years when Mr. Chavaz governed in Caracas or the Ronald Reagan years for the US Republican Party – tend to be out of touch with their population and quickly lose their appeal to any one outside of their fiercely loyal bases.  Ghosts do not govern.

The second that caught my eye was the quote about being marked like cattle when waiting in line at the supermarket. This immediately brings to mind the lines in the former Soviet Union for basic consumer staples like bread and sugar. People waiting in line have plenty of time to think and a thinking populace can be a dangerous thing for any government let alone a government that is struggling to maintain control.

Maduro managed to tread water for a while – on the wave of continued support for Chavez – but now is is starting to appear that he is a swimmer starting to struggle and the shore is a long way away. I expect Venezuela to continue to makes its way on the front page of news stories throughout the remainder of the year. Let us just hope that they news starts to trend positive.

Peru’s Permitting Pendulum

As Peru seeks to continue its dynamic economic growth it is looking for new ways to attract and maintain foreign investment.  With several high profile investment projects taking a hit, Minas Conga as an example due to social conflict, Lima is looking for ways to ease concerns among the business community and investors.

As this recent article in Reuters points out, one of the ways Peru is looking to regain some of the lost confidence of investors is though eliminating some of the red tape that hinders the environmental permitting process and even exempting certain projects from the environmental permitting process altogether. This will certainly lead to inter-cabinet fighting between the Ministry of Energy and Mines and the Ministry of the Environment. With lots of recent cabinet shuffling and instability, including a no confidence vote by the Peruvian congress, this is the last thing that President Humala needs within his administration.

However, any infighting among the administration, as well as the business community and environmental activists loses track of the big picture regarding laws and regulations in this Andean nation. There seems to be a lack of an overall policy regarding handling multi-sector laws and regulations. All too often a law is quickly rushed through congress to respond to a particular issue, lobby, or political pressure without taking a step back and seeing how this will effect other sectors within the country.

After a number of years where the pendulum was swinging toward greater environmental protections and community consultation it now appears that it is starting to swing towards business and investor interests. This swinging pendulum between one group and another will play an important role as Peru goes forward and will most likely be at the forefront when this Andean nation heads to the polls in 2016.