Post: #26

hahahah funny.

I had a freelancer who was a Venezuelan college student. He asked to be paid in BTC or Amazon Gift Cards. Didn't want paypal or any of the Local currency.

Post: #27

(01-10-2018 12:47 PM)Dulceácido Wrote:  Reminds me of all my teammates that "invested" in the Iraqi Dinar when we were there. LOL. Those things will turn to dust in the safe before they gain any value.

I know a woman that did this. She's in her 70's, I wonder if she will even benefit before she dies.

Post: #28

Lol this is gold. Pure gold. Wonder where OP is at now....

Post: #29

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venez...SKCN12715A

"Total square footage of premium office space in Chacao and Las Mercedes is set to jump by nearly 50 percent by the end of next year, according to figures compiled by CBRE, while the cost in local currency of renting or buying such space has soared by nearly a factor of 15 in the last two years."

You have to invest where rich people invest. There´s never lack of money on the top.

Post: #30

Thing is, that's in local currency, which is depreciating rapidly in a hyperinflationary economy, and these wouldn't be passive investments. You'd be locking up your capital for a long while, until inflation gets under control and the economy is stable enough to invest in, and you'd have to reinvest ever-depreciating local cash flows until then.

Post: #31

This thread has aged really well. 10/10, would invest again.

Post: #32

edit

Post: #33

I think the time to invest in Venezuela would be after The current government gets the boot and the country gets a stable and somewhat sane government. You don’t need to try and pick the absolute bottom, wait until things start improving then invest. Any recovery that eventually takes place could play out for a long time and even if you miss the first year or two it’s not a big deal and you can still make a lot of money.

Post: #34

Why even invest? Why not just pillage?

Why not buy subsidized fuel in Venezuela, transfer it to an Aruban fishing trawler's tanks, and smuggle the fuel out of the country?

Sounds too easy. I am probably assuming something that I should not assume. Any guesses?

Post: #35

(01-12-2018 08:19 PM)Icarus Wrote:  Why even invest? Why not just pillage?

Why not buy subsidized fuel in Venezuela, transfer it to an Aruban fishing trawler's tanks, and smuggle the fuel out of the country?

Sounds too easy. I am probably assuming something that I should not assume. Any guesses?

Because the military is already doing it, check the Venezuela/Colombia border. 10x profits as soon as it's crossed.

I doubt they'd want some competition.

Post: #36

(01-12-2018 08:29 PM)Cattle Rustler Wrote:  Because the military is already doing it, check the Venezuela/Colombia border. 10x profits as soon as it's crossed. I doubt they'd want some competition.

Sure, but is checking the tanks of every fishing trawler leaving the harbor feasible?

What if the trawler dragged a submerged "balloon" filled with fuel? Such an "external" tank was used in the past to transport fresh water.

What if the subsidized fuel were used to power generators that produce electricity to mine Bitcoin? I read stories of BTC-miners in Venezuela getting caught because they were consuming too much electricity from the grid. However, is every droplet of subsidized fuel tracked by the state?

Post: #37

Quote:And beginning in 2007, DEA agents watched as a commercial jetliner from Venezuela’s state-run Conviasa airline flew from Caracas to Tehran via Damascus, Syria, every week with a cargo-hold full of drugs and cash. They nicknamed it “Aeroterror,” they said, because the return flight often carried weapons and was packed with Hezbollah and Iranian operatives whom the Venezuelan government would provide with fake identities and travel documents on their arrival. From there, the operatives spread throughout the subcontinent and set up shop in the many recently opened Iranian consulates, businesses and mosques, former Project Cassandra agents said.

Source: The secret backstory of how Obama let Hezbollah off the hook (2017)

Post: #38

(01-12-2018 09:12 PM)Icarus Wrote:  

(01-12-2018 08:29 PM)Cattle Rustler Wrote:  Because the military is already doing it, check the Venezuela/Colombia border. 10x profits as soon as it's crossed. I doubt they'd want some competition.

Sure, but is checking the tanks of every fishing trawler leaving the harbor feasible?

What if the trawler dragged a submerged "balloon" filled with fuel? Such an "external" tank was used in the past to transport fresh water.

What if the subsidized fuel were used to power generators that produce electricity to mine Bitcoin? I read stories of BTC-miners in Venezuela getting caught because they were consuming too much electricity from the grid. However, is every droplet of subsidized fuel tracked by the state?

Edit: not directed at you in particular, Icarus. More like thoughts on the matter.

How is a gringo going to show up with big wads of cash and not get robbed or shaken down?
What happens when (not if) someone gets a clue that you're making money?
Do you have the right friends?
Do you know the right people to pay off?
Do you know the right movers and shakers in the local crime world? the military? the local / federal government? customs / border control?
Do you know how much all this will cost you in "taxes" or other off-the-book costs of doing business?
Who is going to handle your security, and your assets' security?
Do you know what KRE insurance is, and the ballpark price in Venezuela?

Spotting "opportunities" is easy. Execution is hard.

Post: #39

(01-14-2018 09:42 PM)polar Wrote:  How is a gringo going to show up with big wads of cash and not get robbed or shaken down?

I am not a gringo. I don't look like one.

Taking cash to Venezuela sounds foolish. Taking Bitcoin may be a much better idea.

(01-14-2018 09:42 PM)polar Wrote:  What happens when (not if) someone gets a clue that you're making money?

Ideally, I would not put myself at risk. I would hire a bunch of homeless guys, former inmates who can't get a decent job and are desperate, guys who need a new liver ASAP and can't afford it, retirees who can't live off their meagre pensions and desperately need money, etc.

(01-14-2018 09:42 PM)polar Wrote:  Do you have the right friends?

I belong to an ethnic group that has a large expat community in Venezuela and who have been fucked over by Chavez & Maduro. Ideally, I would partner with some of them.

Post: #40

It's kinda tragic, though. In my humble opinion, Venezuela has the hottest chick on the planet--wait in the universe. So many Miss Universes from Venezuela, although I think it's an unfair competition because no other planets in the universe ever compete.

Some could compete... What about that green chick with Captain Kirk? Old-Skool body... Lots of curves. Big tits.

Post: #41

(01-15-2018 05:35 AM)Icarus Wrote:  

(01-14-2018 09:42 PM)polar Wrote:  How is a gringo going to show up with big wads of cash and not get robbed or shaken down?

I am not a gringo. I don't look like one.

Taking cash to Venezuela sounds foolish. Taking Bitcoin may be a much better idea.

(01-14-2018 09:42 PM)polar Wrote:  What happens when (not if) someone gets a clue that you're making money?

Ideally, I would not put myself at risk. I would hire a bunch of homeless guys, former inmates who can't get a decent job and are desperate, guys who need a new liver ASAP and can't afford it, retirees who can't live off their meagre pensions and desperately need money, etc.

(01-14-2018 09:42 PM)polar Wrote:  Do you have the right friends?

I belong to an ethnic group that has a large expat community in Venezuela and who have been fucked over by Chavez & Maduro. Ideally, I would partner with some of them.

(((Icarus)))?

Post: #42

(01-12-2018 05:55 AM)ProfessorCumbledore Wrote:  Lol this is gold. Pure gold. Wonder where OP is at now....

Worthy of a ban removal just so he can attempt to explain himself and get ridiculed.

Post: #43

@ Icarus-
The fuel smuggling reminds me of Iraq back in the early 2000s. After the fall of Saddam Hussein the transitional government kept the popular fuel subsidies in place (gas was 10 cents per gallon if I recall). Smugglers had SUVs retrofitted with underside gas tanks, and extra gas tanks on the inside, and filled up in Iraq and drove over the border to Jordan for immediate profit.

Post: #44

(01-12-2018 09:17 AM)Troller Wrote:  https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venez...SKCN12715A

"Total square footage of premium office space in Chacao and Las Mercedes is set to jump by nearly 50 percent by the end of next year, according to figures compiled by CBRE, while the cost in local currency of renting or buying such space has soared by nearly a factor of 15 in the last two years."

You have to invest where rich people invest. There´s never lack of money on the top.

If I understood this article right it's measured in local currency, and you went break-even dollar-bolivar adapted...

Real estate skyrocket all over the planet during this time.

Post: #45

(01-16-2018 06:56 AM)Woolf Wrote:  

(01-12-2018 09:17 AM)Troller Wrote:  https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venez...SKCN12715A

"Total square footage of premium office space in Chacao and Las Mercedes is set to jump by nearly 50 percent by the end of next year, according to figures compiled by CBRE, while the cost in local currency of renting or buying such space has soared by nearly a factor of 15 in the last two years."

You have to invest where rich people invest. There´s never lack of money on the top.

If I understood this article right it's measured in local currency, and you went break-even dollar-bolivar adapted...

Real estate skyrocket all over the planet during this time.

Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserve in the world. Something like 300B barrels. Multiply oil reserve (300B)* current price of barrel (63) =18,900,000,000,000

That´s trillions. The math doesn´t work this way. It´s not that simple. There´s costs of productions, etc, etc. But you get the idea.

The untapped potential of Venezuela is brutal. OP might have been too fast to call the bottom. Which by itself is impossible. Since it´s like trying to time when you will get better from a cold. Normally 2-3 days. But it can take more.

But there are sure as hell fundamentals to support a decision to invest there. Not short term.

Real estate didn´t sky rocketed everywhere. Greek real estate is still depressed. In normal markets price sky rocketed because of low interest rates. Probably other have negative yelds. A simple google search will give results.

The difference between the increase in price in real estate and devaluation of currency can be positive. Most deals are probably made in dollars anyway. Bolivars are irrelevant. There´s no data to say it´s negative for high end real estate investors in Venezuela. Nor positive. For the fact.

But if in stocks it was not a break even. But profit. Handsome profit. I bet there was also profits in prime real estate. Even with all the devaluation.

https://www.cnbc.com/2015/05/07/venezuel...rcent.html

"Still, since the Caracas general index is up some 600 percent in 12 months, and 23,000 percent over the past five years, the theoretical American investor who was able to convert money into bolivars, buy Venezuelan stocks and convert the money back to dollars has likely generated a handsome profit."

Stock market didn´t tank. I don´t buy the official explanation of why. But I had to dig deeper to catch the real info. If you have any alternative idea why please discuss.

https://www.bloomberg.com/quote/IBVC:IND

If I were to invest in Venezuela. Which I´m not. It would be in Isla Margarita. An hotel. But for my level of risk it´s too early. There as to be some signs of change. But you would have to get info of this signs before they are made public.

http://www.viviun.com/Real_Estate/Venezu..._Island/2/

Post: #46

Just what I needed.

A good laugh for today.

This forum is hilarious sometimes.

People, please never take advice from anyone on this forum without doing your own due diligence.

Post: #47

Just a quick thought, I will use this thread.

Let´s have a look at Syria. It was very prospering and rich country. Now, the most of it is destroyed and men died in the war or fleed to different country.
But somebody will have to rebuild it. In case Asad will be still at power, national resources won´t be stolen.

Does somebody else feel this as potential opportunity? I am not talking about investing, but rather entrepreneur opportunity.

Post: #48

Like, "I'm going to go to Syria because there's money to be made in this war-torn shithole?"

No, I don't think so at all.

Post: #49

(02-27-2018 07:51 AM)tomzestatlu Wrote:  I am not talking about investing, but rather entrepreneur opportunity.

You need political protection. Are you friends with Putin?

I suspect many Russian construction companies will profit from the reconstruction of war-torn Syria.

Post: #50

(01-10-2018 02:32 PM)qwertyuiop Wrote:  hahahah funny.

I had a freelancer who was a Venezuelan college student. He asked to be paid in BTC or Amazon Gift Cards. Didn't want paypal or any of the Local currency.

We don't need to know the depraved stuff you're into on Friday nights, qwertyuiop!