Listen to‘Charlatans by Moises Naim and Quico Toro read by Fajer Al-Kaisi’ on #SoundCloud on.soundcloud.com/Bp1cO4Bpdw…

Interesting

Trafigura, Vitol Sell More Venezuelan Oil to Asia on War Turmoil By Lucia Kassai and Yongchang Chin (Bloomberg) -- Commodity traders Trafigura Group and Vitol Group are expanding efforts to sell Venezuelan oil into Asia, a move that comes as the South American country’s production rises and the Iran war disrupts competing supplies from the Middle East. Trafigura has offered Venezuelan flagship Merey 16 crude to refiners in South Korea, according to people with knowledge of the situation who asked not to be named discussing private transactions. The company also recently delivered oil to a refinery in Malaysia, the people said. Traders had also made recent offers to India at discounts of around $6 a barrel to the Dated Brent benchmark, although it wasn’t immediately clear if any volumes had been sold to the South Asian nation, according to the people. Trafigura offered half a million barrels of Merey 16 to South Korean fuelmakers, people with knowledge of the situation said. The oil was eventually discharged into a storage facility in South Korea in early June, data from maritime intelligence firm Kpler Ltd. show. South Korea last bought Venezuelan oil in 2011, according to the country’s customs data compiled by Bloomberg. Trafigura declined to comment. The same vessel that delivered oil to South Korea, the Trafigura-chartered supertanker Nissos Kea, also delivered oil to a Malaysian port that serves the Melaka refinery operated by Petroliam Nasional Bhd, known as Petronas. The refinery is a major producer of asphalt, for which heavy Venezuelan oil is a well-suited feedstock. Another supertanker, the Solana, chartered by Vitol, just unloaded 2 million barrels of Merey 16 into floating storage facilities off the coast of Malaysia. Such facilities are typically used as distribution centers, where large cargoes are broken up into smaller parcels and sold to end users. Vitol didn’t immediately return a message seeking comment.

Officials "took everything, demolished walls and ceilings, and killed our dogs" when they recently expropriated the home of Venezuelan opposition leader @leopoldolopez Investors should beware: Delcy Rodriguez's regime does not respect the rule of law wsj.com/opinion/delcy-rodrig…

🇨🇳 💰 China has funneled $200B into Latin America since 2005, but a staggering 70% of it is concentrated in just two sectors ↓ China has deployed over $200B into Latin America since 2005, transforming the region's economic landscape. Our latest analysis breaks down the mechanics of this massive capital wave, from state-backed conglomerates to strategic acquisitions. 🗞️ read the full story → latinometrics.com/articles/c…

Lo que hizo el chavismo con la Universidad Simón Bolivar es vergonzoso. La mejor universidad de Venezuela y una de las mejores escuelas de ingenieros de Latinoamérica quedó en ruinas. Diezmaron a las mejores universidades públicas, pero con la USB se ensañaron por odio a la excelencia y meritocracia.

Venezuela isn’t yet giving Americans enough confidence to invest washingtonpost.com/opinions/…

The Trump administration is controlling billions of dollars of Venezuelan oil revenue with almost no transparency or oversight, argues expert Roxanna Vigil. "The United States has a narrow window to translate its influence in Venezuela into meaningful democratic progress," she writes. In the absence of a clear plan, "the United States risks propping up the same authoritarian regime responsible for the worst peacetime migration and humanitarian crisis in the Western Hemisphere in recent history." Read more: cfr.org/articles/the-u-s-too…

Venezuela's Trump-backed reforms have yet to draw investors wary of legal system, infrastructure reuters.com/business/energy/…

RT @EnriqueKrauze: Celebro la presencia en México de @cayetanaAT la más notable parlamentaria del orbe hispanohablante. Su mensaje es claro…

Historic milestone: For the first time ever, wind solar generated more electricity than gas worldwide in April 2026! • Wind & Solar: 531 TWh (22%) • Gas: 477 TWh (20%) Clean energy is accelerating fast, even amid global energy challenges. The transition is happening. Source: Ember Energy

Moisés Naím: «La democracia no desaparece de golpe; primero se vacía por dentro» | Ethic ethic.es/moises-naim-2026/

Venezuela opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said she is willing to negotiate with the country’s interim government on a path to presidential elections backed by the US. bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

Mitt Romney to Harvard Business School graduates: "There's more to a country than its economy. To be a great nation, it must also be a good nation. The world needs good men. It needs good women. Good leaders. Good parents raising good children. There is no national success that could compensate for failure to be a good and noble people."

NEW: The Trump administration has quietly instructed prosecutors in Miami to avoid criminally investigating Venezuela’s acting President @delcyrodriguezv, a longtime target of the DEA, in the latest sign of warming relations with the oil-rich nation. apnews.com/article/federal-p…

🇻🇪A pesar de las operaciones militares estadounidenses en el Caribe y del arresto del expresidente de Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, las redes de narcotráfico que operan en el país continúan casi intactas. Lea nuestro análisis para conocer más: bit.ly/4v2tz5U

Exclusive: A Florida lawyer who briefly served as special envoy to Latin America, Mauricio Claver-Carone, has no official job in the U.S. government. But he was very involved in the administration's plans to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. wapo.st/3PDWcYg

The investigation into the unofficial role of Mauricio Claver-Carone, Delcy Rodríguez's oil trip to India reinforce an uncomfortable reading. Normalization is progressing. The transition, not yet. Who is deciding the political future of Venezuela and under what conditions?

RT @sermeca: El libro Charlatanes, del periodista y escritor venezolano @MoisesNaim, es una muy buena lectura para los días previos a las e…

Delcy’s 'gatekeeper': sources say ex-Trump official Claver-Carone holds keys to Caracas thegrayzone.com/2026/05/25/d… via @TheGrayzoneNews