Rosaria: ‘Myanmar moving on with refinery without GZE: lessons for Curaçao’
Since visiting Myanmar late 2016, I’ve written extensively about the failure of Guangdong Zhenrong Engergy (GZE) to deliver on promises made to this Asian country to build a refinery as part of China’s imperial More...
GZE is gone, questions linger
Debt-ridden Guangdong Zhenrong Energy (GZE) faces the possibility of completely disappearing from the map or getting absorbed by another Chinese state-owned enterprise (SOE). This, as a result of a thorough overhaul More...
Government places the economic cart before the horse
You know there’s something terribly wrong when your country starts facing the real possibility of capital flight. This is a process that usually takes place quietly as people export their savings to foreign countries. More...
More than oil; why Venezuela matters
Late Venezuelan President Chávez said in 2012 that his country had finally regained its independence from the evil Yankee empire when it signed a total of 8 oil cooperation agreements with Russia. He predicted More...
#MeToo Curaçao
As we reflect on Women’s Day this year, men and women can be grateful of the many strides we’ve made on women’s rights. Long gone are the days that Friar (Frater) Radulphus on behalf of the Church declared More...
Dysfunctional union Curaçao & St. Maarten
On 16 February 2018, the Monetary Council of the Eastern Caribbean Monetary Union (ECCU) convenes for the 90th time. The ECCU was born in 1983 to assist members with their financial and economic development agenda More...
The disappearing act of Plan B refinery Curaçao
The Multidisciplinary Project Team (MDPT) was installed by Decree on 29th November 2013 to be in charge of modernizing the oil refinery in Curaçao. This Decree also created a sub-committee to lead Plan B, the redevelopment More...
Lying Dutch top diplomat endangers international affairs
The Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Halbe Zijlstra, recently admitted that a lie he had told in 2016 “was not a smart move”. Mind you that he didn’t lie about winning big in a poker game or catching More...
Future GZE drawing to a close
WILLEMSTAD - After a local newspaper hastily printed a fake news claiming that the Chinese state owned enterprise Guangdong Zhenrong Energy (GZE) had pulled the plug on the multi-billion-dollar refinery modernization More...
Drowning Nicolas Maduro clutches at a straw
It could not have been clearer this week that Nicolas Maduro -once a well-mannered Caracas bus driver- doesn’t have control of his country as he steers this formerly rich democratic country straight off a cliff. More...
