In case you missed it, here are some of the most relevant stories of the week. Oil reserves in Venezuela are dwindling, while the government ban on currency exchange negatively impacts Venezuelan businessmen. According to the International Monetary Fund, Venezuela has the worst inflation rate in the world. As Colombia reassures its commitment to hand over suspected drug trafficker Walid Makled to Venezuelan authorities, accusations abound that Venezuela itself is becoming a drug state.

Venezuela: vanishing foreign reserves, Financial Times

There’s something fishy going on with Venezuela’s public finances. Given that oil prices have doubled in the last two years, and that by law state oil company PDVSA should transfer a portion of its profits to the central bank, one might expect foreign exchange reserves to have strengthened considerably. They haven’t. In fact, they have been on a downward trend. Surprising? Not really. For some time now, the Chavez administration’s economic management has been unorthodox, not to say anarchic.

Chavez Policy Sends Venezuelans on Cross-Border Exodus for Cash, Bloomberg

For Gustavo Posse, the easiest way to get dollars these days involves a 403-mile drive from Valencia, in central Venezuela, to Cucuta in Colombia. Posse, the owner of a medical clinic, made the drive last month to get hard currency to pay for the surgical equipment he was importing from the U.S. The 58-year-old businessman said he asked the Venezuelan government to sell him dollars. The answer was no.

Inflation: Venezuela World’s Worst, Latin Business Chronicle

Venezuela and Argentina have the world’s highest inflation rates. In Latin America, Peru and El Salvador boast the lowest rates. Venezuela posted the world’s highest inflation last year, followed by Argentina, according to a Latin Business Chronicle analysis of data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for 186 countries worldwide.

Colombia Will Extradite Drug Kingpin to Venezuela Instead of U.S., The Wall Street Journal

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez clinched a major diplomatic victory over the U.S. after the Colombian government confirmed that it will extradite Walid Makled to Caracas instead of the U.S. The White House has tagged Mr. Makled, a Venezuelan national now being held in a jailhouse near Bogota, one of the world’s top drug lords. The decision, announced Wednesday by Colombian Interior Minister German Vargas Lleras, could represent a major setback for Washington’s anti-narcotics efforts in the region since U.S. officials are likely to have limited access to a treasure trove of information on suspected drug-running networks in Venezuela.

Venezuela accused of becoming ‘narco state’, Financial Times

Mr. Makled, who claimed in a prison interview last week that he once had 40 Venezuelan army generals in his pay, has said he will reveal “all he knows” if extradited to the US. That would help “dismantle some of the most important drug networks in the world today”, according to Richard Lugar, a Republican senator. Mr. Chávez has, meanwhile, accused the US of wanting to use Mr. Makled to take Venezuela to an international criminal court.