But he may now be forced to spend much of that money at home. Critics are asking that Venezuelan ally Cuba pay cash for the nearly 100,000 barrels it receives every day.

"Chavez is going to have to significantly pare back his diplomatic ambitions" to maintain support at home, said Patrick Esteruelas, an analyst at the New York-based Eurasia Group.

One of Chavez's biggest international initiatives has been the Petrocaribe pact, which sells oil to Caribbean and Central American countries largely on credit, charging 1 percent interest over 25 years. Venezuela has financed more than $2 billion in sales to the pact's 18 members since 2005, sometimes accepting as partial payment cattle, bananas, sugar, and medical care from Cuban doctors.

Plunging oil prices have changed the terms of that deal: Recipients now pay for at least 50 percent of the oil up front, up from 40 percent when crude prices topped $100 a barrel.

Still, the pact isn't likely to disappear soon: The alliances it has furthered are valuable to Venezuela in international forums such as the United Nations, where small countries' votes sometimes carry the same weight as those from larger nations, said Alejandro Grisanti, a Latin American analyst at Barclay's Capital in New York.

Officials in more than a dozen beneficiary nations report no cuts in aid, and Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez insists that Petrocaribe shipments will continue: "There is no plan to modify that contract."

Yet even if cutbacks are not publicly disclosed, analysts including Rafael Amiel, managing director for Latin America at IHS Global Insight, expect Petrocaribe shipments and other assistance to dwindle substantially by the third quarter of 2009.

Some beneficiaries have amassed large debts to Venezuela. Analysts doubt Bolivia will be able to repay the more than $100 million it owes. Meanwhile, Venezuela is reevaluating how to finance refineries planned for Nicaragua and Ecuador.

"The government is attempting to project the image that it has put away resources that will enable the country to function more or less as it now is for upwards of a year," Birns said. But, he said, "Venezuela is beginning to hurt and will hurt a good deal more in the near future."

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Associated Press writers contributing to this report included Theresa Bradley in Mexico City, Carlos Valdez in La Paz, Bolivia, and correspondents in Petrocaribe countries.