This post is a translation of one that I published recently in Spanish, but in order to give it more publicity I publish it now in English, I make this comment to explain why the source and images are mostly in Spanish, although I trust that They are clear enough in themselves that they can be understood.
In recent decades, the Venezuelan situation, in terms of its economy, policies and leadership, seems to have become an example of what should not be done if the intention is to govern a country without destroying it.
An emblematic case corresponds to the main industry of Venezula, the mining of a strategic resource in today's world: the oil tanker.
A couple of graphics is enough to give an idea of the disaster (which some already describe as catastrophic):
Source
The supporters of the current administration may insist that the existence of sanctions on government officials and their associates is what causes the whole problem, but if you look at the dates things are not that way. Let's put the other image:
Source
This last graphic must be taken with suspicion, since the one who presents it is one of those responsible for this problem: Rafael Ramírez
But other sources also coincide with most of the data in terms of lost production levels:
source
If by chance my reader has a complaint because I suspect that the sources are biased and ultimately they are not part of the internal dynamics of oil production and marketing, I have an answer in a very direct table, prepared with data from the OPEC, which shows the continuing decline in Venezuelan production.
Source
I comment that this table was used in a very direct newspaper article in which its title and subtitle indicated:
Manuel Quevedo did not keep his promise in PDVSA
Instead of increasing crude oil production, PDVSA continues in free fall. The low is 47%
If they have been fixed, this table corresponds to secondary sources, but the decrease is also marked in the primary source data that the Venezuelan government has been forced to deliver to OPEC, why not use them then? Because your credibility level is too low!
If management does not meet the goals, another must be appointed ... Whenever you do not want to destroy the company
To all these, although the fall in production could be marked since 2008, it is since 2013 and in particular with the designation of General Quevedo that the decline began to look like a direct free fall to hell without a parachute.
Already when he was appointed to such a delicate and strategic position, the National Executive said in a press conference that he did not know the subject, but that he was loyal to the Process and was reliable. After demonstrating a continuing inability to maintain or increase production, they continued to maintain it and arrived at various times to publicly exalt it in new national radio and television networks.
Some years passed and production fell to such a degree that we produced the historical minimum of our decade. Despite repeated false promises to increase production and its obvious breach, the company's management was not changed and continued support to further destroy the Venezuelan oil industry.
There were also picturesque moments very consistent with Venezuelan "Magic Realism", such as when instead of implementing a viable plan to stop the fall and try to save what is left of PDVSA to resurface, it gave them a religious ceremony to " Pray to heaven that the production went up "... I'm not kidding, if they did.
Source
Obviously his God "did not do the miracle", the production continues to fall, the drilling rigs continue to stop, the wells collapse or stop and the destruction of any hope and possibility of recovery is "advancing to the victor's step", as a colleague told me in obvious sarcasm when using a government slogan to indicate another one of the failures they have produced.