Falling oil prices put Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro in a vice

All of this has left friends and enemies alike wondering how long the government can go on until something snaps, especially if oil prices slip further. Venezuela’s desperate attempts to get fellow OPEC states to cut production have failed to sway the mighty Saudis. The cliff seems closer than ever…Stalking Maduro are Venezuela’s long-festering core problems — collapsing productivity and Chávez-era currency controls that have pushed inflation to 63 percent, one of the world’s highest rates.New lines of credit from the world’s other big lender, Beijing, aren’t likely, with China growing frustrated with Venezuelan mismanagement, said Francisco Monaldi, a Venezuelan economist who is a visiting professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. More…