[MIAMIHERALD] Venezuela's cash-strapped government faces eviction from a Miami building it once owned after its consulate failed to pay rent since August.The notice demanding the consulate vacate the building in the ritzy Brickell neighborhood was filed Feb. 15 in a Miami-Dade county court. The landlord, a developer behind Miami's tallest high-rise, the still being built Panorama Tower, said Venezuela owes $142,119 in unpaid rent.
The potential eviction is a major reversal for Venezuela's government, which owned the building until 2005, when it sold it for $70 million.
"The fact Venezuela can't come up with such a small amount of cash tells you what dire straits they're in," said Russ Dallen, a Miami-based investor specializing in Venezuelan bonds who discovered the eviction notice on Thursday.