Exclusive: As Venezuelans suffer, Maduro buys foreign oil to subsidize Cuba

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By Marianna Parraga and Jeanne Liendo HOUSTON (Reuters) - Venezuela's state-run oil firm PDVSA has bought nearly $440 million worth of foreign crude and shipped it directly to Cuba on friendly credit terms - and often at a loss, according to internal company documents reviewed by Reuters. Venezuela made the discounted deliveries, which have not been previously reported, despite its dire need for foreign currency to bolster its collapsing economy and to import food and medicine amid widespread shortages. The open-market oil purchases to subsidize one of Venezuela's few remaining allies underscores its increasing global isolation and the disintegration of its energy sector under socialist President Nicolas Maduro.