The International Monetary Fund, IMF, praised Venezuela for the recent devaluation of its currency saying it is a positive attempt to reduce macroeconomic misbalances but also called on the government of President Hugo Chavez to continue eliminating the exchange rate distortions.
Venezuela devalued its currency for the fifth time in nine years as ailing President Hugo Chavez seeks to narrow a widening fiscal gap and reduce a shortage of dollars in the economy. The new exchange rate falls by 32% to 6.3 Bolivar per dollar starting Feb. 13, Finance Minister Jorge Giordani told reporters in Caracas.
Vice-president Nicolas Maduro said on Thursday that Venezuela is willing to have the ‘best possible relations’ with the US government as long as these are based on respect and equality. He added that it was President Hugo Chavez who instructed the newly named Foreign minister Elias Jaua on the issue.
Venezuela President Hugo Chávez has decided to appoint Elías Jaua as the new Minister of Foreign Affairs, announced Venezuelan Vice-President Nicolás Maduro during the Tuesday session at the National Assembly when he submitted the Yearly Report for fiscal year 2012.
Argentine president Cristina Fernandez in her recent visit to Cuba declined to see the ailing Hugo Chavez but surprised her hosts, the Castro brothers, when she revealed having received two letters from the Venezuelan leader which she considered to be his political testament.
United States and other Latinamerican countries wish the situation in Venezuela ‘clears up’, said Roberta S. Jacobson Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, currently in Spain as part of a visit that also includes the UK and Belgium.
According to a report from Reuters, Brazil is urging Venezuela's government to hold elections as quickly as possible if President Hugo Chavez dies, which in that case would help a smoother leadership transition in Caracas.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's lung infection has been controlled and his medical state is improving, the government announced on Sunday while four of the most powerful figures gathered in Havana allegedly to report to the cancer-stricken leader and meet with Cuban allies.
Organization of American States Secretary General José Miguel Insulza, said in statements to the press that the hemispheric body “fully respects and how could it be otherwise the decision of the constitutional powers of Venezuela regarding the inauguration of the President of that country”.
Tens of thousands of Venezuelans packed the centre of Caracas on the day that Hugo Chavez, cancer-stricken and hospitalized in Cuba for over a month, had to take office for another six years and ended the rally with hands up in a massive oath of loyalty to the president.