That could make it harder for Chavez to maintain his monopoly on power. Chavez has never looked so vulnerable. Members of the President's inner circle and even his own relatives have been dogged by charges of corruption. Meanwhile, his ruling Patriotic Pole coalition, a motley crew of left-leaning parties, is being split asunder by infighting. Fiat, Honda Motor, and Owens-Illinois have all shut down factories in the past six months.
Companies complain that the strong currency has pushed up operating costs and hurt exports.
Yet the Central Bank has repeatedly rebuffed calls for an adjustment of the currency's trading band. ''We can bring in products from Colombia cheaper, including the cost of transportation,'' says Rossi. The slump in private investment is one big reason oil-rich Venezuela is doing so badly even while crude prices have rebounded. But thanks to his neophyte cabinet's bureaucratic bungling, few have made it past the the drawing board. Aid to victims of December's devastating floods has also been held up. The feeling that Chavez is one of us, because of the color of his skin, his language, is stronger than the issue of economic development,'' says Central University of Venezuela sociology professor Roberto Briceno.