Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 January 2018
In mid-1985, the US Embassy in Caracas stated that “Venezuela appears to have successfully coped with its financial crisis” (US Embassy, 1985). In January 1986, the Wall Street Journal announced that
Venezuela will become the first country in Latin America to sign a debt-refinancing agreement without mediation by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Its success stands in stark contrast to the situation in another oil-rich nation, Mexico, where the ruling political party has seemed more interested in using the oil wealth to perpetuate the party's power than to secure the country's independence from the IMF (WSJ, 1986).