Venezuela’s president continues to be a big fan of Argentine debt. Last month his government bought $239 million in 2012 dollar-denominated Boden bonds to take its investment in Argentine debt to more than $2.5 billion over the past two years. Argentina has relied heavily on Venezuela to help fund its financing needs and turned to its favourite creditor again. Recently Argentina has sold its debt through open sales but, following a spike in emerging market bond yields in mid-May, was unwilling to pay the higher rates. For Chávez, the purchases help boost his image as the strong man of Latin America.