Pandemic reveals strings attached to Beijing's loans in Latin America
An unfinished road that was to be part of South America’s first high-speed train, a project abandoned by its Chinese managers, in El Sombrero, Guarico state, Venezuela, on March 21, 2016. Until recently, China had been a lifeline for Venezuela, bankrolling the last two administrations with a mix of cash, loans, and investment commitments. But lately, as China struggles with its own financial woes and the oil used as loan collateral has plunged in value, Venezuela is finding that kind of support harder to come by. Ariana Cubillos/AP Photo
In Latin America, over-indebtedness and runaway public spending were business as usual before the pandemic. For decades, foreign funding for development projects came from multilateral institutions such as the World Bank—until China stepped in.
