Venezuela will fulfill its sovereign-bond obligations even though U.S. sanctions are affecting its ability to conduct normal debt relations, said President Nicolas Maduro. Maduro spoke at the Russian Energy Week conference in Moscow on Wednesday as his nation’s struggling economy becomes increasingly reliant on the Kremlin’s support, Bloomberg News reported. The Latin American oil producer is struggling to meet its financial obligations and remains on course for a fourth consecutive year of economic contraction in 2017, according to Fitch Ratings.

Oi SA’s bankruptcy saga took a new twist this week as Chief Financial Officer Ricardo Malavazi Martins resigned, prompting a rebuke from Brazil’s telecommunications regulator. Juarez Quadros, president of the regulator known as Anatel, told reporters Tuesday the departure is “worrisome” and said it worsens an already bad situation for the phone giant mired in $19 billion of debt, Bloomberg News reported.

Venezuelan investors are getting ready for a wild ride over the next five weeks as the government stares down $3.5 billion in debt payments, Bloomberg News reported. While all the country’s due dates in the past year have elicited serious hand-wringing, the next few are on a whole new level. That’s because unlike recent transactions in which a 30-day grace period allowed Venezuela to avoid default, the upcoming deadlines have no leniency. Further complicating matters, some of the bonds are backed by a majority stake in Citgo Holding Inc., potentially putting one of the biggest U.S.

Venezuela has a dubious backstory when it comes to paying sovereign debt. It’s tied with Ecuador for the most defaults since 1800, Bloomberg News reported. But for anyone betting that a default would catapult President Nicolas Maduro from office even as he holds on in the face of untold economic misery, here’s a more relevant marker: Not once on those 10 occasions, most recently in 2004, did a missed payment spur a change in government. In fact, defaults around the globe have triggered governmental change less than 15 percent of the time since 1992, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Abengoa Bioenergia Brasil, the Brazilian sugar and ethanol arm of struggling Spanish conglomerate Abengoa SA, said on Tuesday it had filed for bankruptcy protection. The company, which operates two mills, said in an emailed statement that it had tried unsuccessfully for the last 19 months to find investors with fresh capital to keep its operations running, Reuters reported. “Brazil’s current economic and political crisis, along with the 40 percent drop in sugar prices, led investors showing initial interest in the company to flee,” the company said in the statement.

Abengoa Bioenergia Brasil SA became the latest Brazilian sugar and ethanol producer to file for bankruptcy protection following the country’s economic crisis and a slump in commodity prices, Bloomberg News reported. The company, a unit of Spain’s Abengoa SA, requested judicial protection in a court in Santa Cruz das Palmeiras municipality, Sao Paulo state, it said in an emailed statement Tuesday. Its bank debt was 837 million reais ($265 million) as of December. The move followed unsuccessful attempts over the last 19 months to attract outside investors and restructure its debt.

State-controlled oil producer Petróleo Brasileiro SA and Sete Brasil Participações SA have agreed to choose a mediator for a legal dispute that forced the rig leaser to seek creditor protection against 18 billion reais ($5.7 billion) of debt, Reuters reported. In a Thursday securities filing, Petrobras said Gustavo Binenbojm had been picked by both parties to mediate the dispute. Founded in 2008 to fill the world’s biggest deep-water drilling fleet order, Sete Brasil had to file for bankruptcy protection last year after efforts to secure a long-term contract with Petrobras failed.

Venezuela, one of the world’s riskiest countries for investors, is late on a debt payment, Bloomberg News reported. The intermediaries tasked with passing along interest payments for the cash-strapped nation haven’t received the funds for an $185 million coupon that was due Sept. 15, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Investors interviewed by Bloomberg say they haven’t been paid, and brokers say their clients are still waiting on the cash. The government has a 30-day grace period -- now 25 days -- to make good on the payment before triggering an event of default on the notes.

Brazil’s Mines and Energy Ministry has canceled nine licenses to build transmission lines that had been granted to Spain’s Abengoa SA after the company abandoned construction works in 2015, a senior official said on Wednesday. The decision formalizing cancellation of the licenses was published in the Wednesday edition of the official gazette, Reuters reported. The cancellation will not exempt the company from paying legal fines related to projects, according to the decision. The company did not have an immediate comment on the cancellation of the licenses.

One of the largest holders of Venezuelan bonds says U.S. sanctions are giving Nicolas Maduro’s government greater incentive to pay its debts. The penalties imposed late last month restrict the country’s ability to restructure its obligations, meaning the president’s only option is to keep scraping up enough cash to keep current on overseas notes, Bloomberg News reported.