Oil spawns new wave of newly rich in Venezuela

They drive shiny new Hummers and Audis. They wear Cartier and carry Montblanc bags. They buy up luxury apartments and fly private aircraft to and from Miami. And they almost always pay in cash.

They are the so-called Boliburguesia – short for Bolivarian Bourgeoisie – a reference to socialist President Hugo Chavez’s declared “Bolivarian” revolution on behalf of Venezuela’s poor.
But record oil prices and Chavez’s efforts to weed out old money, which has generally opposed his policies, have opened the door for a new class of rich here – bankers, oil contractors and others who have profited mightily from lavish government spending.

“They’re selling like warm bread,” said Hector Marquez, a luxury car dealer in Caracas who has seen his fair share of suitcases full of cash in recent months. “We can’t keep up with the demand.”

Analysts say these nouveau riche are concentrated in the oil, finance, construction and government service industries, and that their riches likely come from their ties to a state overflowing with money as the world’s fifth-largest oil exporter.

San Luis Obispo