Venezuela Tells Diplomats to Tighten Belts as Money Runs Out

The cash crunch afflicting Venezuela, which has already led to defaults on some bonds, shortages of basic goods at home and IOUs scribbled to service providers, has now come knocking on the doors of the socialist nation’s consulates and embassies around the world. All of Venezuela’s diplomatic missions globally are being urged to renegotiate rent agreements with the goal of achieving “substantial savings,” Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said in an internal memo dated Nov. 15 obtained by Bloomberg. A legal framework for doing so is being drafted under the title “Manual for the Procedure of Renting Diplomatic Headquarters,” the memo said. More…