Of oil, income and the Constituent Assembly
Absolutely incredible, there is no anthropologist who can understand it. In a country so given to celebrations of holidays, national, religious, pagan and others, there is not one, not even a parish festival, whose purpose is to celebrate what from every point of view is something of the most important for Venezuela, its oil.
A few months ago, the IESA Debates magazine published a brief essay of mine and in which, in order to provoke a debate, I suggested the possibility that the entire national custom of presenting oil as something bad and unpleasant, going so far as to describe it as "excrement of the devil" to something that in any other civilization would be considered a gift from God, is derived from an intelligent compromise to prevent the national country from being more severe when demanding accountability.
As long as oil revenues are "dirty" and have not gone through our pockets (as they say so as not to corrupt us), there will be little importance that we give to the function of supervising the performance produced by those who have graciously offered to manage them on our behalf.
If at Sunday Mass, the oil income was worthy of a few simple thanks. If in primary school children were taught the need to thank God by correctly assuming responsibility for this income. If souvenirs alluding to oil were sold at the airport. If when traveling to Florida we proudly displayed t-shirts selling the benefits of Orimulsion. If from time to time and together with some virtuous maiden we sacrificed some Minister of Energy and Mines to try to ensure a season of good prices for oil. If all of the above were true, then as they say: "another rooster would crow!"
The most important thing to develop a solution to a problem is to clearly identify the resources available. In Venezuela it seems that this does not apply. Here colleagues, social planners, notables and other well-intentioned opinion leaders insist on proclaiming that the optimal development model for Venezuela must try to ignore oil revenues. Something like assuming that we leave the oil buried and then pray a hundred "ceteris paribus" to compensate for continuing to exploit it.
The oil income is still there and the opening efforts are aimed at increasing it. In view of this, I expressed in my article the thesis that perhaps the model that Venezuela should adopt is that of rentierism. Of course, not that of easy-going and lazy rentism but that of responsible rentism, which requires the formation of a solid character that responsibly assumes the management of wealth for the benefit of future generations.
If one were the owner of a company where the manager is useless, fails and continually squanders resources, the simplest rentier model would indicate that before ensuring a true reorganization of the company, the owner should not contribute new capital or allow the manager to continue putting the company into debt.
Consider the lack that we have of the simple previous wisdom in order to better be able to face the current demands of the IMF experts and the politicians eager for resources and who prescribe to the country, based on strange models that I believe are more sadomasochistic than of a cutting nature. macroeconomic, that the disastrous administrative experience of the State should be ignored and continue giving more and more resources to the treasury.
There is much talk today about a Constituent Assembly. I am not an expert but I am sure that somewhere in that Constituent Assembly there is a need to include matters related to how Civil Society can monitor, supervise and influence the management of its oil industry.
When the previous Constitution was drafted, the country, although it enjoyed income derived from oil, was not in charge of managing the industry. Today, when witnessing programs of all kinds by PDVSA and related companies, when contemplating how PDVSA is called to collaborate in government management and when simply measuring its economic significance, it is clear that there is a significant power, whose performance and form of expression can that is not properly regulated.
Nor sufficiently regulated to ensure that the Government of the day does not squeeze PDVSA for the necessary resources it needs to ensure its own development and survival. Nor sufficiently regulated to ensure that a technocracy does not take root in it and implements its own agenda behind the country's back. Nor regulated enough to ensure that the Government and the Petrocracy do not collude against the rest of the country.
When discussing the separation of powers, for example that of the judiciary, let us not forget the need to also separate the monetary powers, PDVSA the generator of resources and the FISCO the spender of these. A truly independent NATIONAL OIL BOARD
Translated by Google
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