A simple but complex question from a humble Venezuelan economist to any outstanding Venezuelan international lawyer

The 1999 Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic ofVenezuela establishes:

"Article 12. Mining and hydrocarbon deposits, whatever their nature, existing in the national territory, under the territorial sea bed, in the exclusive economic zone and on the continental shelf, belong to the Republic, are the property of the Public domain and, therefore, inalienable and imprescriptible. "

Suppose a Revised Constitution would establish: "Article 12. Mining and hydrocarbon deposits, whatever their nature, existing in the national territory, under the territorial sea bed, in the exclusive economic zone and on the continental shelf, belong to Venezuelan citizens, as long as they live and, therefore, inalienable and imprescriptible."

Suppose also that the current PDVSA bankruptcy and all its assets are acquired by a PDVSA II or by any other national or foreign company that, on behalf of the citizens of Venezuela, has been entrusted to extract and market that oil providentially deposited in Venezuela. 

So then a tanker would be transporting, not the oil of a sovereign country, but the oil privately owned by millions of Venezuelan citizens.  My question to expert lawyers would then be:

Could the financiers of the Bolivarian Revolution of Venezuela, or old PDVSA, embargo that tanker? Could a tanker for instance belonging to ExxonMobil, be seized by creditors of the United States or the state of Texas in the event that any of the latter fail to meet financial obligations?

Of course, current Venezuela and Pdvsa creditors would claim before judges they always lent against estimated future oil revenues. But, can a government mortgage something that the constitution itself declares as inalienable?

Would the world, knowing then that the oil revenues carried by the tanker would be delivered directly to millions of Venezuelans, the rightful owners of the oil, and which will help these to satisfy some basic human needs, like food and medicines ... allow that tanker to be embargoed in order to satisfy the cravings of a few speculating financiers?

Dear friends, our Venezuela has been ransacked. It is the obligation of every Venezuelan to seek to try to save our nation in any way we can. 

If expert lawyers respond to me with a "You’re crazy Kurowski, that’s not possible", then, shamelessly, I’ll try to find other ways.

And if that means governments’ of Venezuela will not get access to credit in the future, I would almost count that as a blessing.

And don’t tell me I did not warn the creditors before!

PS. This is loosely translated from here

Creditors of Venezuela, read our Constitution!

In the same way there are international conventions that help foreign investors to collect what governments duly owe them, there should be agreements that help citizens not to be saddled with the payment of debts incurred by governments who violate their constitutions.

If the articles of incorporation of a company stated that it was not allowed to borrow more than 50 % of its assets, but its president is asking for loans that would take its debt to 100% ... it should be difficult to get a reputable law firm to issue a legal opinion stating that there will be no problem.

And, if constitutions are the statutes by which citizens defend themselves from the excesses of their governments; and if creditors expect citizens to sacrifice themselves honoring the debts of their country to which their governments have subscribed... I think citizens should be able to expect from potential creditors, to at least throw a glimpse at their constitutions, to see if these are met.

And it does not matter where the creditors come from, whether Wall Street, San Cristóbal or Cochinchina.

And it is not that I expect creditors to be aware of everything in our Constitution, such as if the expressed rights of indigenous people are complied with but, as a minimum minimorum, sophisticated financiers should be able to tell, detail, whether there is compliance of an Article 320 which states:

"The State shall promote and defend economic stability, prevent the vulnerability of the economy and ensure monetary and price stability, to ensure social welfare. The Ministry of Finance, and the Central Bank of Venezuela, will contribute to the harmonization of fiscal policy and monetary policy, facilitating the achievement of macroeconomic objectives. In exercising its functions, the Central Bank of Venezuela will not be subject to directives of the Executive and may not endorse or finance fiscal deficits."

and so! Can anyone who knows anything about finance, argue that our Constitution has been complied with? Of course not! And so, as a citizen, I here inform our creditors they better not come crying to me tomorrow looking for my support to get paid.

And all citizens of the world, messed up by their bad governments, should all take the same attitude ... and we should all show solidarity amongst us all.

And I'm not throwing out warnings after the fact... like would a bad payer. In "Odious Debt", March 2004, and "OdiousCredit", April 2004, I begged creditors to collaborate with citizens ...and nothing! And as salt in the wound Venezuela has paid them exorbitant interests. Well guess what? You can begin applying those high risk premiums to the principal owed... in order for us to at least confirm you your risk assessment.

And what fault of mine is it that the creditors did not read it? They should follow me on Twitter!

Having us Venezuela citizens recently been mocked by the OAS, that clubhouse of governments where constitutions are not even read, it is clear that we need the OCA, the Organization of American Citizens.

PS. There are many polls, but the one I would most like to see, is one that asks the participants of the 4F-1992 Hugo Chavez coup, whether what we now have in Venezuela is what they dreamed about.

PS. I am seeking a democratic dictator who would be willing to rip our oil revenues out of the hands of our Petro-state, and hand these over to the citizens. That would earn him a place in history, as the one who achieved the true independence of Venezuela.

Translated from El Universal

PS.When reading in the Financial Times an article by Michael Holman titled “Investors incorrupt ‘new Africa’ repeat old errors”, April 9 2014, I immediately sent FT aletter which concluded: “More than sovereign credit ratings we might need sovereign ethic ratings … and to make these count”

PS. 2017. A bank, like Goldman Sachs, that finances a notoriously human rights violating regime, like Venezuela’s Maduro’s, does it really deserve the citizen’s trust? The world is in more need than ever of ethic ratings.

We might need a Global Web Constitution, and Inspection Panels, to get along well with the Googles and Facebooks of this world

The role of a Constitution is foremost to defend the citizens from government abuses. In this respect, and since one of the most important issues of our time is how to guarantee acceptable relations between us, the small users, and they, the gigantic information and or knowledge dissemination machines that govern so much of how we communicate, and handle so much of private information on us, like Google and Facebook, one could say that we are in a dire need of a Web Constitution. 

Also, “Don’t be evil”, is for instance, a company motto of Google and which supposedly precludes them from manipulating rankings to put their advertising or content partners higher in their search results. That sounds great… exactly how it should be… but, how can we make certain that the supposedly is for real and that a company follows its motto and declared principles, and that we can trust it as much as we should, for ours and theirs benefit? Perhaps Google and Facebook should establish something like the Inspection Panel of the World Bank, which is there to guarantee, to the rest of the world, that the World Bank follows the rules and principles it has itself declared to follow. 

The last thing we citizens need is for these tech-giants to enter into joint venture agreements with Big Brother.

PS. This is a speculation which resulted from a conversation with my daughter Alexandra Kurowski

PS. And, for me, when managing knowledge, it is also extremely important to make sure that does not pose any treat to the biodiversity of knowledge development… as we can never know where the next world saving idea can come from.

PS. Below more comments related to this theme!

https://perkurowski.blogspot.com/2019/05/i-have-some-ideas-about-what-could.html

http://teawithft.blogspot.com/2014/07/facebook-i-want-to-be-happy-so-if-you.html

http://teawithft.blogspot.com/2007/06/in-search-of-answers-on-search-engines.html

http://teawithft.blogspot.com/2014/05/if-erasing-google-must-be-sure-it-is.html

http://teawithft.blogspot.com/2013/12/we-need-personal-drones-more-than.html

http://teawithft.blogspot.com/2007/09/some-of-gods-greatest-gifts-are.html
http://perkurowski.blogspot.com/2014/06/should-not-google-and-other-public-eyes.html

Let's talk about official advertising (and exchange rate anorexia)

Let's talk about official advertising (and about an exchange rate anorexia)

If the constituents of the time when the Constitutions, which currently inspire those of the Western world, were drafted, had had a notion of the importance of publicity and understood its irresistible temptation for a politician, they would surely have established all kinds of limitations to the same.

Advertising is for a politician, like drugs for a drug addict, he cannot live without it. In normal times, under a fully current Constitution the Nation is administered by politicians. Hence, it would be impossible, like asking for pears from an elm tree, to ask those same politicians to generate effective self-regulation in advertising matters.

In a Constituent Assembly, since there is a greater possibility of a certain apolitical representation, it would be the almost unique opportunity to introduce the limitations on politicians that civil society believes are necessary.

What limitations can be proposed? Before answering, it would be helpful to illustrate what you want to avoid. The following are just a few examples, although, of course, readers will surely have their own list.

The fact that to “inaugurate” a small "green" space of 12 m2 with some nuances, awnings, chairs, sound equipment, gifts and other promotional material are hired, shows an absolute disrespect for the citizen.

Surely many have observed, when passing through some highway, crews of workers who are actually doing a good job of cleaning and maintaining the road, who, unfortunately, are forced to carry, like a cross, a sign that weighs more than than his work team and that only fulfills a promotional function.

We see throughout the country so many posters that announce, with the name and surname of the official on duty, the fulfillment or supposed fulfillment of duty, of the President, Minister, Governor and Mayor. All these advertisements, surely expensive, only serve to remind us why we are not politicians. Out of simple politeness, we would be embarrassed.

To avoid abuses such as those expressed above, I would love to include in our Constitution, within a chapter entitled "Limitations for officials in the use of advertising", the following articles:

1. Advertising expenditure related to the execution and start-up of any civil work is prohibited, exceeding 1% of the cost of said work.

2. Any public servant is prohibited from using, in relation to any official activity, any adjective intended to give a favorable connotation to the way in which said activity has been carried out.

3. In any activity that can be classified as promotion, advertising or information, and regardless of the origin of the funds for payment, whether public or private, the use of one's own name, photo, or any other element that, directly, can personally identify a public official or a political organization.

To the extent that in our next Constitution we manage to introduce some type of limitation on the shameless self-promotion of the politicians in power, to that same extent we will be able to say that we have achieved a new Constitution, with real possibilities of producing results. Only in this way can we have, at least the hope, that the politicians of the future will have to dedicate themselves to achieving real fruits of their management, instead of spending resources and time trying to sell us imaginary fruits. Does that seem little to you? This alone would almost justify the Constituent Assembly!

Another different matter. [An exchange rate anorexia that can plague a centralized oil-revenues cursed nation] 

A respectful question to Mr. President. Just for my historical archive.

The rate of the bolivar against the dollar should be at 900, but it is at 600. As a result, a hotel, when converting the 40 dollars it obtains from a tourist, receives, instead of Bs. 36,000, only 24,000 and goes bankrupt. If you try to obtain the Bs. 36,000 you must charge 60 dollars, then the tourists go to another destination and you go bankrupt. The disaster affects everyone. Today we read about a small gypsum plant that had to close because it is cheaper to import gypsum from Spain. 

Even postgraduate degrees (the paid ones, not the free ones) are cheaper abroad. It is true that a devaluation, by itself, does not remedy anything, but I believe there is more than enough evidence that anorexia would change if it kills

I have no doubt that if I were responsible for the country's economic policy and had to face uncertainty regarding exchange rates, if I sinned, I would always, always prefer to do so in favor of the national producer and not the foreign one. Since, upon reviewing my files and finding that the first date, on which I got on my knees begging for a greater rate of devaluation, was in July of '98 and since then, I have cried out for it, "so many hundred" times, I know , that they didn't pay attention to me.

Mr. President: Who was it? Who was it that convinced you to continue with Dr. Kevorkian's exchange rate policy? Was it Casas? Was it Natera? Was it the International Monetary Fund? Was it a military man? Was it Kelly? Was it Alfaro? Was it Emeterio? Who was? Don't you remember? - With respect, I recommend you remember - Many others are going to ask you... and very soon.

Translated by Google from an OpEd published June 15, 1999

My Constitutional wish list

As do many Venezuelans these days, I have dedicated some time to reflection about the Infamous Constituent Assembly (La Constituyente). 

At the beginning I was among those that believed that, although it is true that our Constitution requires some changes, these changes could be made without having to go through what seemed to be an unnecessarily complicated process.

Today, this assembly, due to its enormous public appeal, is basically a done deal. My outlook, therefore, is now more in the realm of “if we are going to do it, let’s do it properly”. Having analyzed this point of view, having expunged my fear of the process and having embraced the hope in its potential, I must admit I have now become a fervid supporter of the Constituent Assembly.

My enthusiasm is based on the fact that Venezuela now has the opportunity to create the first new Constitution of the next millennium in the world. It is our challenge and our responsibility to ensure that this Constitution is in line with the requirements of this next millennium. To achieve this, we must follow that ancient Chinese proverb that states something like: aim for the stars, and although you may not reach them, you will surely reach higher than if you had aimed at something within easy reach.

I certainly don’t wish to minimize the importance of history. Certainly, we must take heed and learn from the past if we wish to come up with a good Constitution. 

However, if we allot excessive importance to the gaggle of “constitutional experts” that surround us today, we will most surely miss the opportunity to truly modernize our Constitutional reality.

I accept the fact that there are various reforms that are based on traditional constitutional debate. Among these are, for example, those that correspond to reforms in the judicial system and in the fiscal capacity of decentralized entities such as the States and the Municipalities to create and collect taxes.

Likewise, there are other reforms that are born out of our own particular realities. Among these, I have given special attention to the following two reforms.

The first is a strict constitutional restriction on public indebtedness, specially in light of our disastrous experience in the past. This is vital for our country, since we know with absolute certainty that every now and then, the government of turn will not be able to resist the bankers’ siren song, incurring in debt and mortgaging the futures of several generations of Venezuelans without producing tangible results. These limitations on indebtedness should be established in our Constitution.

The second reform born out of our own realities, is one that inserts an effective representative of civil society between the political and technocratic sectors. I personally consider that the Petroleum sector as well as other productive activities undertaken by the State (Sidor, CVG and Pequiven) should be governed by a Board of Directors whose members are elected by popular vote, rotating a percentage of them at every national election.

Notwithstanding the above, what I really wish to address is the fact that as a result of the profound changes that have occurred worldwide, it is urgent that we introduce aspects based on today’s realities that were never taken into account by any country in the world when drafting previous Constitutions, simply because similar problems never existed before. Among these I can highlight the following:

The information revolution: If we can say that a democracy with hunger is not democracy, we can also safely state that a democracy without information is also not democracy. 

Without a doubt, new technological advancements that make the collection and dissemination of information quick and easy also give societies the right to demand of its governments a level of information that dramatically exceeds the level present at the moment the world’s existing Constitutions were drafted. 

In this sense, Venezuela’s next Constitution must include the citizens’ right to be informed as to the government’s management of the Nation’s affairs. This information must be valid, truthful, detailed and in real-time.

The power of publicity: Should the drafters of previous Constitutions have been aware of the immense power that the public media can wield, I am absolutely sure that they would have included an article that limits the amount of publicity that governmental entities can undertake. 

To begin with, they would have put a stop to the spending often undertaken by a Nation, a State, a Municipality or a governmental agency or company on behalf of, and to promote the name of, a particular public official.

Globalization: Without a doubt, to try to redefine the concept of a “Nation” within a world in which global relationships intensify second by second is a challenge of incredible importance. 

What a source of pride it would be for Venezuela if we could find our way forward in a way that would guide and illuminate the other countries around the world (probably all of them) that have lost their way. 

Let us face this challenge with enthusiasm and show the world that Venezuela is capable of producing a Constitution that is an example for the world of the coming millennium. 

If we don’t achieve this, we will have wasted a golden historic opportunity. Worse still, we will soon have to call for another Constituent Assembly.

PS. 2023 I asked ChatGPT and in 2025 Grok: Can you visualize Artificial Intelligence being used to measure the effectiveness of governments? They both say YES!

https://perkurowski.blogspot.com/2023/08/ai-chatgpt-openai-can-you-visualize.html

https://perkurowski.blogspot.com/2025/03/grok-can-you-visualize-artificial.html