THE eND OF CHAVISMO hISTORY:

In the 1990s, Venezuela was a petro power, producing more than three million barrels of crude daily. But production fell dramatically as the Socialist regime fired thousands of engineers and other state oil company workers, nationalized oil ventures and made it harder for private firms to invest. Sanctions leveled in 2019 against the state oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela SA, took a toll, with production falling to 300,000 barrels a day in 2020 before rising to about 760,000 barrels daily last year.

Now emissaries for Mr. Maduro are promoting investment opportunities--including in the oil industry--and promising to restructure about $60 billion in bond debt held by Wall Street asset managers including Fidelity, T. Rowe Price and BlackRock, along with non-U.S. funds.

They are also offering infrastructure concessions, oil and gas reserves and asset privatizations in exchange for a restructuring of the debt that started falling into default in 2017. The sanctions impede debt-for-equity opportunities that would help U.S. bondholders to recover at least part of what Venezuela owes.

In January, more than two dozen financial-sector executives, including several American, European and Venezuelan business people, met in a videoconference with Patricio Rivera, a former economy minister of Ecuador who is leading the initiative for Mr. Maduro. Mr. Rivera touted a rebound in Venezuela's oil production, the end of hyperinflation and structural reforms, including lower gasoline-price subsidies. The charm offensive wrapped up with an image of the country's Angel Falls to drive home the message of a new, budding Venezuela filled with investment opportunities.

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