VENEZUELA opened talks with creditors yesterday to renegotiate a crippling debt that has left once-prosperous citizens sifting through garbage to find food, as the OPEC nation seeks to avert a default that would plunge its economy into deeper uncertainty.

President Nicolas Maduro’s government has summoned investors who hold some US$60 billion in junk bonds to Caracas in a desperate bid to shore up public finances that have been squeezed by the unraveling of the socialist economy.

Investors broadly said they planned to skip the meeting because of concerns about U.S. sanctions on senior Venezuelan officials, worries about security in violence-torn Caracas, and generalized confusion about what Maduro hopes to achieve.

Markets were optimistic Friday that Venezuela would continue to service its debt despite the odds, noting that Maduro’s government had made close to US$2 billion in payments in the past two weeks, albeit delayed.

“The country that has paid the greatest amount of debt per capita is called Venezuela,” Maduro said during his weekly Sunday broadcast, insisting the country was the victim of an “economic war.”

But many say Maduro’s promise to restructure and refinance debt rings hollow at a time when U.S. sanctions make both options all but impossible, and that his government may be paving the way for a default despite promises to the contrary.

The economic crisis has already taken a brutal toll on Venezuelans, who increasingly suffer from malnutrition and preventable diseases because they cannot find food and medicine or cannot afford them because of triple-digit inflation.

The sight of poor Venezuelans eating from garbage bags has become a powerful symbol of decay. It contrasts sharply with the era of late socialist leader Hugo Chavez, when high oil prices helped fuel state spending and even the most humble citizens could travel abroad or buy the latest mobile phone.

Sanctions by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, in response to accusations that Maduro’s government has undermined democracy and violated human rights, block U.S. banks from acquiring newly issued Venezuelan debt.

The sanctions do not prohibit investors from attending. But they are blocked from dealings with dozens of officials including Vice President Tareck El Aissami and Economy Minister Simon Zerpa, both of whom are part of the debt commission.

Maduro said this month he wanted to speak with creditors about restructuring, but also vowed to continue making payments, leaving investors baffled.

“If they’re going to continue paying, I don’t have anything to say to them,” said one bondholder who asked not to be identified. “It’s when they say they’re going to stop paying that I’d have reason to talk to them.”

It is not clear how default would affect the struggling population, in part because the impact would depend on the government’s strategy and the response of creditors. (SD-Agencies)