In anticipation of Thursday's Carabobo oil field auction, outspoken Marxist president Hugo Chavez quietly pleaded for foreign investment.
""Investment and experience from foreign oil firms is necessary in Venezuela. We need it," Chavez said, according to Dow Jones.
The statement is a serious turnaround for a government that has nationalized dozens of foreign oil companies in recent years. But they 'need' foreign investment because mismanagement is turning the country into just another failed petro-state.
This is also the second instance of Chavez backtracking today. Chavez reversed a six-year ban on the sale of U.S. dollars by Venezuela's central bank, in an effort to control the vast amount of money that was leaving the country through unregulated exchange, according to Bloomberg.
He had previously threatened to "burn the hands" of speculators who speculated against the bolivar. |