Venezuelan gov't says it will spend $15 billion over 5 years to boost electricity output

Canadian Business
2/6/2010

Venezuela's government says it will spend $15 billion over the next five years to increase electricity production.

Energy Minister Ali Rodriguez said Saturday the projects will add 15,000 megawatts by 2015.

Venezuela imposed power and water rationing in December because a severe drought is threatening to drop water levels behind the important Guri Dam to critical lows. The dam supplies most of the country's electricity.

Critics have accused President Hugo Chavez of failing to invest enough in electrical projects to meet growing demand.

About Venezuela

Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, (2005 est. pop. 25,375,000), 352,143 sq mi (912,050 sq km), N South America. Venezuela has a coastline 1,750 mi (2,816 km) long on the Caribbean Sea in the north. It is bordered on the south by Brazil, on the west and southwest by Colombia, and on the east by Guyana. Dependencies include Margarita Island, Tortuga Island, and many smaller island groups in the Caribbean. The capital and largest city is Caracas. Its President is Hugo Chavez Frias.

About US Policy

The United States traditionally has had close relations with Venezuela, the fourth major supplier of foreign oil to the United States, but there has been friction in relations with the Chávez government. U.S. officials have expressed concerns about President Chávez’s military arms purchases, his relations with such countries as Cuba and Iran, his efforts to export his brand of populism to other Latin American countries, and concerns about the state of democracy. Declining cooperation on antidrug and anti-terrorism efforts has also been a U.S. concern. Since 2005, President Bush has annually designated Venezuela as a country that has failed demonstrably to adhere to its obligations under international narcotics agreements, and since 2006, the Department of State prohibited the sale of defense articles and services to Venezuela because of its lack of cooperation on anti-terrorism efforts.

- Report of The Congressional Research Service, January 11, 2008