Fmr. Amb. to Venezuela: Economic Crisis Won't Have Major Impact on U.S.
The economic crisis in Venezuela continues to cripple the country and its people.
A former U.S. ambassador to the South American country blames the mismanagement of funds from oil as the reason for the shattered economy, and doesn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel just yet.
“Every time I think Venezuela has hit bottom, things get worse, and they will continue to do so,” said former U.S. Ambassador to Venezuela Charles Shapiro. “The price of oil is cyclical, everybody knows that. When prices were high they spent it all and didn’t save anything. Now they’re low and they’re stuck.”
Since Venezuela has fallen out of the top 10 petroleum producing countries, the former ambassador doesn’t believe the country’s economic crisis will hurt the United States.
“Fortunately oil production elsewhere is up, and we’re no longer dependent on Venezuelan oil the way we were before, so I don’t see it having a major impact on the U.S. economy,” Shapiro said.
He added: “The truth of the matter is with oil at the price it’s at, even if it goes up some more, the Venezuelan government still can’t get out of the fix it’s in.”