Word: crude
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Straddling Central America with harbors on both the Caribbean and Pacific coasts, Nicaragua is strategically situated to threaten sea-lanes that carry more than half the crude oil imports of the U.S. It is but a half-hour jet flight away from perhaps the most critical "choke point" of all, the Panama Canal. There have been some ominous signs that Nicaragua is preparing to serve as a Soviet base. Warsaw Pact engineers are building a deep-water port on the Caribbean side, "similar," Reagan said in his speech, "to the naval base in Cuba for Soviet-built submarines." Under construction...
...major reason for the good news is the plunge in oil prices. Only last November crude was selling for more than $30 per bbl., but by last week it had dropped to about $12. Because oil price declines can take 40 to 90 days to work their way through to the pump, the impact of lower-cost crude is just beginning to be felt. Some experts are predicting 60 cents gas for the summer, which may tempt a lot of people to polish up the old T-Bird and have some...
...heroin and marijuana. Partly because of Mexico's economic woes, struggling farmers have boosted their crops of opium poppies and marijuana plants. U.S. consumer demand for their output has increased as well. Mexico's illicit heroin- refining labs have upgraded their equipment so that their product, previously a crude substance dubbed "Mexican brown," now competes with purer varieties from Southeast Asia. At the same time, Mexico's marijuana has made a comeback with bargain-minded smokers; it costs only $100 or less an ounce on the street, compared with $200 for California's superpotent sinsemilla...
Brazil, however, which imports 49% of its 990,000-bbl.-per-day consumption of crude, will get a big boost from less expensive fuel. The country expects its 1986 oil bill to be $2.8 billion instead of a previously estimated $4.8 billion. The developing world's largest debtor, Brazil has been able to keep up with its payments lately, thanks to a roaring economy that grew 8% last year. But the country will have to curb that feverish growth to cut inflation, which reached 233% in 1985 and appeared to be headed for 500% this year. Last week President Jose...
...fall of oil prices has drained other South American petroleum producers too. The plunge has soured the comeback hopes of Venezuela, which relies on crude sales for 90% of its export income. A predicted loss of roughly $2 billion in oil revenue for 1986 forced Venezuela last week to ask for last-minute concessions in an agreement it signed with international bankers for rescheduling payments on $21.2 billion of the country's debt...