Almost half the profits U.S. capitalists take from Latin America come from Venezuela. One of the world’s richest countries, it is also one of the poorest and most violent. It boasts of Latin America’s highest per-capita income and most complete and up-to-date highway network, and no country consumes as much Scotch whiskey per inhabitant. Immediately exploitable iron, petroleum, and gas reserves in its subsoil could multiply by ten the wealth of every Venezuelan; the population of Germany or England could fit into its enormous virgin lands.
