Introduction

When Chavez cheerfully shouted "Exprópiese" left, right and centre in his high days, he overlooked the element of potential compensation for all of the expropriated assets. With more and more adverse awards against the Venezuelan government, the debts have become staggering. ICSID debt alone amounted to US$4.6 billion in April 2016, before post-award interest. This figure has increased about US$1.5 billion from March 2015 , and with another 26 pending ICSID cases it is likely to increase further for the next couple of years. To give an indication of the potential future ...