China And Russia Loaned Billions To Venezuela, And They May Not Be Paid

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro touches a gold bar as he speaks during a meeting with the ministers responsible for the economic sector at Miraflores Palace in Caracas, Venezuela March 22, 2018. To match Exclusive VENEZUELA-GOLD/ REUTERS/Marco Bello/File Photo

CNBC: China and Russia loaned billions to Venezuela — and then the presidency went up for grabs

* China and Russia have kept Venezuela afloat by lending billions to the economically crippled petrostate, sometimes with cheap oil thrown in as a sweetener for the two creditors.
* Those deals were struck with strongman Nicolas Maduro, whose leadership is facing a serious challenge from Juan Guaido, and it's not clear what happens to that debt if Maduro is kicked out of office.
* Venezuela is indebted to external creditors by a total of something close to $100 billion.

Venezuela is in the middle of a power struggle at the highest level, and that could mean trouble for its two biggest foreign allies: China and Russia.

The socialist petrostate is home to the largest oil reserves on the planet, but endemic corruption has devastated its economy. Beijing and Moscow have helped the country stave off collapse by repeatedly extending financial lifelines — to the tune of tens of billions of dollars over the last decade.

For the most part, those oil-for-debt swaps were good for all parties involved. But that may be changing.

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WNU Editor: President of Venezuela's National Assembly Juan Guaido has publicly said that Venezuela will respect the debt that is owed to China. He has not mentioned anything about Russia, and I think the reason why is that he does not want to pay them off. Russia is owed billions for weapon sales to Venezuela, and they have an interest in Venezuela's oil industry that they got IMHO at a very good price. I am sure this is rankling many in the opposition.