stk, i also have long time horizon (as long as the price of beer does'nt go up too much i can afford to wait also)...i do believe now that hugo's time horizon has been closing pretty quickly...if he does'nt act fairly soon he wont be in power in 2012....here's some quick realistic facts from the cjr bluecollar mutual fund:

FACT-in 2010 ven will have severely limited gold production (even if they issue all permits now). the majority of producing mines in ven are at/near end life cycles...it will take approx 18 months to get new mines into production..

labor is/have been having riots in regards to gold mining opportunities and recent events have been showing that the ven policy is starting to bend to labor...

i think hugo is beginning to find out that russia is not as socialism friendly as it once was and that if he plays games with rusoro (especially agapov) he will end up in cement sneakers...

kry's losses and expenses have dropped dramatically recently because they have reached all contractual obligations with the MOA in regard to social issues/etc...

the "smart money" as you call it (i call it safe play money)will come to the party like everyone else when the situation is resolved (they will miss out on the biggest gains but will also avoid the risk)...the biggest gains (if any) will be made by the speculators who buy at $2 levels.....

ecuador is'nt a turd in the watermelon patch and is in a constant "quest for fire"....hugo might be slightly crazy but i dont believe he's stupid...if he was to end all gold production for no reason when most signs point to lower oil prices down the road??? c'mon...imo