We’re on something of a Venezuela binge of late; here’s one more noteworthy item. Al Jazeera aired a nice video on China’s impact in Venezuela last week. In it, Dima Khatib reports from Caracas on how the country now leads Latin America in Chinese investment dollars. A lion’s share of these investments are in energy procurement, but there are a few lesser-known industries as well. From the video:

This mobile phone, baptized the vergatario, or in colloquial Spanish, “the very best”*, is the first Venezuelan mobile and one the Bolivarian revolution’s latest inventions. It is assembled in a mixed Chinese-Venezuelan socialist company, where China contributes to Venezuela’s new model of industrial production by providing technology and parts, while Venezuela provides all the rest …

In another socialist factory, the first Bolivarian computer is being assembled. Venezuelans hope the technology and know-how will be transferred to them by the Chinese in the future.

This talk of “socialist” companies and factories is Khatib trying to capture the rhetoric of Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez himself, who’s fond of pretending his country and China have some kind of ideological connection. In reality, China’s interests in Venezuela (and “Bolivarian computers” for that matter) extend only as far as its own economic bottom line. That’s the brand of socialism China has been practicing for twenty years, whether Chavez recognizes it or not.

H/T: Latin American News Review

*Or male genitalia, apparently