Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to thank our witnesses for being with us here today. I wish we didn't have to keep coming back and going over this issue again and again.
There have been almost 20 years of mismanagement, of corruption and of violent maintenance of this regime. Typically these types of regimes need outside support or they're not going to survive. One nation really stands out as having supported the Venezuelan government, and that's China.
Over the past 10 years I think Venezuela has received over $65 billion from China. China owns the largest share of the government debt. Fifty-five billion dollars has come in to get control of the energy sector in Venezuela. As is typical, the Chinese government has taken advantage of poorer nations to try to get access to their resources. I think it was mentioned that their resources are being taken out of the country.
In 2009, there were $16 billion in loans. By 2012, one in three barrels was going to pay interest on the loan that China had in Venezuela. We've just seen this past week another $5 billion in oil for loan money that's been granted.
I see that China actually does sell some things back to the Venezuelan government, but it's primarily military hardware.
Can you comment about the role of China in Venezuela in the future?
I'll turn it over to my colleague afterwards. I think he'll talk more abut the present, but I'm interested in the future, in China's role in Venezuela in the next few years, and how that will impact your people and your country.