Briefing

The Quick Rise and Fall of the Beco Dollar

On Monday, there was a meeting with the Commerce Minister,  SUDEBAN, private and public banks, and big commercial chains. Authorities decided to forbid companies to issue their vouchers to give change in dollars

Naky Soto
  • De facto dollarization advances in Venezuela and businesses seek solutions for one of the main problems with day-to-day transactions: there aren’t enough low denomination dollar bills in the country to give clients their change when they pay with larger bills. 
    • That’s why some stores came up with change “vouchers,” which didn’t last one week. 
    • On Monday, there was a meeting with the Commerce Minister,  SUDEBAN, private and public banks, and big commercial chains. Authorities decided to forbid companies to issue their vouchers to give change in dollars.
    • Superintendent Antonio Morales emphasized that no business is authorized to handle the public’s money, it’s the client who has to decide. 
    • Apparently, the Commerce Ministry will propose alongside banking authorities an alternative system to issue change in dollars, that goes under the supervision and control of their banking system, but you know how it goes: chavismo has to prohibit things first. 
    • SUNDDE inspected a Beco store, as an event to exercise their authority and punishment. 
    • Vice-minister Daniel Gómez said that they inspected after receiving complaints from citizens who didn’t agree with receiving that kind of change, talking about the vouchers. 
  • The Interior Minister met with CEV representatives to review the protocols for Holy Week in the country. The conclusion was to uphold biosafety measures and a 50% occupancy rate in churches. 
  • Maduro’s ombudsman Alfredo Ruíz rejected the report on Venezuela presented by UN High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet. According to Ruíz, he received over 120,000 cases of people allegedly affected by the sanctions in 2020. The figure is absurd. 
  • Twitter suspended the official account of Maduro’s National Assembly for violating the terms of the agreement established by the platform. 
  • The president of the Association of Public and Private Hospitals Germán Cortéz reported that ICU beds in higher-tier private hospitals in Caracas are between 95% and 100% occupancy with COVID-19. 
  • Cortéz asked Maduro’s regime to “rectify and redesign” the 7+7 system: “It’s not working. We are seeing the figures in our hospitals,” he said. 
  • The National Academy of Medicine assured that Venezuela has “vaccine availability for 38% of the population, including the vaccines that have been negotiated but haven’t arrived in the country. He reiterated that the lack of information on the purchase and delivery of vaccines, and the lack of a plan on priority groups, goals and dates, generate uncertainty. 
  • Efecto Cocuyo’s piece on infection rates and deaths of health workers in Venezuela is truly valuable. According to PAHO figures, we’ve had more deaths than Ecuador and Chile: the lethality rate among healthcare workers I n Venezuela is 7.21%, compared to 1.03 % in Ecuador and 0.19 % in Chile.
  • Students and workers of UCV protested by blocking the Francisco Fajardo highway to protest and demand better wages, and ULA students protested to reject the regime’s decision to impose payments for professors and university workers through the Patria system because it violates university autonomy. 
  • CONINDUSTRIA president Adán Celis is concerned for the gasoil shortage. According to the most recent survey conducted in the field, industries have a supply of a week, or a week and a few days at the most. 
  • The president of retired workers of the CNE guild, Gonzalo Celta challenged her nomination to run again for a position in the CNE board of authorities, before the TSJ Tania D’Amelio’s nomination after 12 consecutive years in her post. 
  • Florencia Carignano, Immigration Argentina general director, stigmatized Venezuelans assuring that “criminals have entered the country, as a consequence of the legal disposition that flexibilized documents for Venezuelan migrants.” 
  • Senators Marco Rubio, Rick Scott, Jacky Rosen, and Thom Tillis presented a draft law to prohibit operations with the illegitimate authoritarian regime of Venezuela, (BOLIVAR after its name in English), that would forbid federal agencies to grant contracts to businesses that make deals with the Maduro regime. 
  • Zulia governor Omar Prieto assured that the U.S. is financing criminal gangs operating in his state. He said that the CIA, the empire and the Department of State are paying criminal gangs to get stronger and create internal conflict. 
  • In order to pressure Cape Verde, the Tribunal of Justice of the Economic Community of the Western African States, ruled against the extradition of Álex Saab, a non-binding action, since Cape Verde doesn’t recognize its authority. 

Naky Soto

Naky gets called Naibet at home and at the bank. She coordinates training programs for an NGO. She collects moments and turns them into words. She has more stories than freckles.

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