Venezuelans’ fears grow amid falling oil prices

“The fall in the oil price came at the worst moment in the history of Chavismo,” says Luis Vicente León, a respected analyst in Caracas, referring to the governing ideology put in place by Chávez, the former leader who died last year. Nicolás Maduro, who replaced Chávez as president, has put a brave face on the oil price slide. “I do not take this blow from the drop in oil prices badly,” he said during a televised address on Friday. “I take it as an opportunity to end superfluous luxuries and unnecessary spending,” he added as he ordered a reduction in government spending and in his own pay – although not, he stressed, in social programmes. Cutting those would further erode Mr Maduro’s support base ahead of congressional elections next year, analysts say. The president’s approval rating is at 25 per cent, down from 55 per cent more than a year ago More…