Monday, November 21, 2005
Who's lying?
Today the opposition held a "March against lies." It sure is rather curious that the opposition would hold a march against lies when their movement is largely based on lies - the lie that Chavez is a dictator, that there was no coup in April 2002, that the opposition speaks for "the people" when every election has shown otherwise, that poverty has increased when it reality it has decreased, and on and on. These lies are indespensible to the opposition for without them their whole intellectual house of cards would collapse. So they can say whatever they want to in their marches but there is absolutely no chance of the Venezuelan opposition becoming known for its veracity.
But while were on the subject of lies - remember that lie about Venezuelan oil production that the opposition (and some opposition bloggers) got caught in recently? You know, the one where PDVSA is going down the tubes and the country is only producing 2.6 million barrels a day? That lie was busted when the PDVSA audited financial statements came out and showed the government was producing over 3 million barrels per day.
Well, yesterday yet more confirmation of the government numbers came out - buried deep in the pages of El Univeral. It turns out that the GNP numbers that were just released by the Central bank confirm that Venezuela is producing over 3 million barrels.
How? Simple. In the GNP calculation for the period of July to September they counted the $11.2 billion in export revenues from PDVSA. At a price an average price of $52.27 barrel this means PDVSA exports were 2.3 million barrels per day. Then they counted the $2.58 billion earned by exports from private oil firms (ie from the Orinoco belt). Again with a price of $52.27 per barrel that means their exports averaged 550,000 barrels per day. Adding the 2,300,000 and 550,000 together gives 2,850,000 barrels of oil exported from Venezuela per day.
Now that alone blows the opposition numbers of 2.6 million barrels per day out the water. After all, how could they export 2.85 million barrels if they are only producing 2.6 million barrels? Moreover, when you add the more than 400,000 barrels per day that are used for domestic consumption and NOT exported you see that Venezuelan production is over 3.2 million barrels per day - precisely as the government has insisted all along!!!
No wonder the likes of Gustavo Coronel and the opposition bloggers don't want to discuss this. Audited financial statements and now the Central Bank numbers have both clearly demonstrated how wrong those liars were. Of course, they could own up to their mistakes. But that would require integrity, something they clearly don't have. So instead they just run away and hide.
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But while were on the subject of lies - remember that lie about Venezuelan oil production that the opposition (and some opposition bloggers) got caught in recently? You know, the one where PDVSA is going down the tubes and the country is only producing 2.6 million barrels a day? That lie was busted when the PDVSA audited financial statements came out and showed the government was producing over 3 million barrels per day.
Well, yesterday yet more confirmation of the government numbers came out - buried deep in the pages of El Univeral. It turns out that the GNP numbers that were just released by the Central bank confirm that Venezuela is producing over 3 million barrels.
How? Simple. In the GNP calculation for the period of July to September they counted the $11.2 billion in export revenues from PDVSA. At a price an average price of $52.27 barrel this means PDVSA exports were 2.3 million barrels per day. Then they counted the $2.58 billion earned by exports from private oil firms (ie from the Orinoco belt). Again with a price of $52.27 per barrel that means their exports averaged 550,000 barrels per day. Adding the 2,300,000 and 550,000 together gives 2,850,000 barrels of oil exported from Venezuela per day.
Now that alone blows the opposition numbers of 2.6 million barrels per day out the water. After all, how could they export 2.85 million barrels if they are only producing 2.6 million barrels? Moreover, when you add the more than 400,000 barrels per day that are used for domestic consumption and NOT exported you see that Venezuelan production is over 3.2 million barrels per day - precisely as the government has insisted all along!!!
No wonder the likes of Gustavo Coronel and the opposition bloggers don't want to discuss this. Audited financial statements and now the Central Bank numbers have both clearly demonstrated how wrong those liars were. Of course, they could own up to their mistakes. But that would require integrity, something they clearly don't have. So instead they just run away and hide.
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