I realize that people don't understand that while there are surface level similarities between the situation in Venezuela and T&T, they are for very, very different reasons. See below as simply as I can make it based on what I've both studied and what I've researched.

How did Venezuela get so bad? Well, the 70s were quite a prosperous time for our South American big brother. OPEC actually placed an embargo on the United States, along with other countries, which obviously sky rocketed oil prices. Venezuela stood to gain A LOT financially.

The President at the time, Carlos A. Perez moved to have the oil industry controlled solely by the Government, which meant that foreign oil companies' rule and exploitation of Venezuela's petroleum was about to end. A state owned oil company (like our Petrotrin) was formed:

Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA). The Government would be the major beneficiary of crude oil profits, of which most was received from the USA. However, the 1980s would humble the growing economic Latin American giant.

Oil prices declined sharply and rapidly which meant that public debts could not be serviced resulting in the country's growing debt portfolio. All because of dependence on oil and lack of proper contingency planning including diversification.

The truth is since 1989, Venezuela has not been able to see her way. The IMF intervened with a loan close to $5 billion, while the country's foreign debt was estimated to be just over $30 billion(including bond payments to foreign companies after nationalization of oil industry).

We all know that the IMF does NOT play, and countries should only go to the IMF as a last resort; several austerity initiatives were launched; cost of living went up while the standard of living went down naturally resulting in chaos and violence for which an SOE was declared.

The Government in an attempt to save the economy revisited its decision to nationalize the petroleum industry & invited foreign oil companies in. This is because PDVSA then lacked the expertise and know how when it came to heavy oil extraction and production in the Orinoco belt.

In the late 90s however, the price of oil tanked severely yet again...and unfortunately, the Government of the day had not yet done any kind of investment into economic diversification that its oil money would have allowed...and as a result, the economy was yet again spiraling.

Hugo Chavez became President just as the 2000s were coming in ousting Carlos A. Perez who was blamed for the state Venezuela was in during the 90s as a result of the IMF. In an effort to alleviate social poverty and suffering, he launched several social programs.

The programs did actually do what they were intended to do which is why so many Venezuelans who lived in the early 2000s LOVED Chavez. The problem was that money was needed to fund these programs...yes, the oil money...which created the country's over dependence on it...again.

As a result of Venezuela's seeming re-emergence as a prosperous nation, Cuba and Venezuela became political and economic allies. This is why there are so many Cuban professionals who lived in Venezuela providing services to the population; health and education namely.

Chavez set out to establish influence across South America and even became allies with China (which is why China warned the US to stay out of Venezuela earlier this year) by selling oil under what the market demanded for it. Problem though:

You see, the more money needed from PDVSA to finance social programs is the less money the oil company had to inject into maintaining oil production and maintenance of oil facilities. Venezuela, unlike other oil producers, has to spend more on production to keep the rate steady.

Chavez wanted PDVSA under his control and sought to get rid of knowledgeable employees who managed to keep the company afloat even during challenging times for the country and the firm.

To maximize PDVSA's revenue according to OPEC, it required cutting oil production to force an increase in prices. However, PDVSA's management wanted to do the opposite and reinvest the profits made into the development of the oil fields in the Orinoco belt.

That would mean less money for Chavez to fund his socialist agenda to score short term political points...so being the dictator that he was...he removed company executives and replaced them with less knowledge loyalists. What could go wrong, right?

Chavez and Government, still trying to fund his agenda, decided to increase taxes, & made up back taxes for foreign oil companies, & even mandated that the Government through PDVSA, be majority shareholder in all oil activities. He even made them cede their operations to PDVSA.

All of this led to oil workers in PDVSA striking which saw production further decline and an assassination attempt on Chavez. While PDVSA employees striked, including those who refused to let the oil tankers leave for exportation, foreign companies didn't share the enthusiasm.

Unfortunately, as the years went by up until Chavez's death, the mandates became too much and foreign companies started leaving. Nicholas Maduro, the hand selected President was not willing to stray from his predecessor's ideals. But Venezuela was too far gone anyway.

After a "democratic" election in 2018, Maduro is re-elected (legitimately or not is being debated). This causes the US to invoke sanctions to pressure Maduro to step down. These sanctions include banning the import and export of US and Venezuelan crude respectively:

PDVSA simply cannot survive that. The only way forward for the company is to invest money into production and development and expertise from foreign firms...but that means the terms would have to favour companies and generating less revenue and profit for the country.

So you see, Trinidad and Tobago is NOWHERE close to going through what Venezuela is as long ad we learn from their mistakes regarding diversification and investment. Oil is a commodity whose price cannot be blamed on any Government. Please stop fear mongering.

Here's the link to the tweets all condensed in one article for easy viewing. Any questions, comments, suggestions...my DMs are open.

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1203692991313063946.html