Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro waves as he drives the bus while leaving the airport after arriving in Caracas on January 17, 2015. Maduro is back from a tour in search of financial aid. The price of Venezuelan crude oil and its derivatives has dropped below $40 per barrel, the oil ministry said Friday, marking the lowest level since the 2008 financial crisis. The decline of oil prices is expected to further hit the country's battered economy, already reeling from a recession it entered in early 2014, with 64 percent inflation and shortages affecting about a third of commodities. AFP PHOTO/FEDERICO PARRA        (Photo credit should read FEDERICO PARRA/AFP/Getty Images)