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The price of oil has dropped by over 70% in just six months, causing panic in many countries who had become dependent on high oil revenues over recent years. Miguel Tinker Salas explains to The Real News that Venezuela had planned ahead for the price drop, by stocking up on US dollars. Furthermore, most of the progress made by Chavez’ government was made before the price of oil went through the roof, so they have proven capable of making progress under conditions of lower oil revenues.

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Miguel Tinker Salas is a professor of History and Latin American studies at Pomona College in Claremont, California. He is co-author of Venezuela: Hugo Chavez and the Decline of an Exceptional Democracy and author of Under the Shadow of the Eagles and The Enduring Legacy: Oil, Culture, and Society in Venezuela. His latest book is Venezuela: What Everyone Needs to Know.