Crazy Cadivi subsidizes Colombian smugglers
This story from Colombia’s Radio Caracol was an eye-opener. The money quote (translated by me): “The exchange regime in Venezuela promotes smuggling through that country. It’s an excellent...
Economy
The government puts the "arbitrary" in "arbitrage"
Is a fourth exchange rate on its way? El Nacional’s very own economics Lois Lane, Blanca Vera Azaf, seems to think so. The money quote: “The proposal –...
Tail-between-my-legs Chronicles
Venezuela is now the riskiest country in the world. This damning-yet-not-completely-unexpected development is not unrelated with what is happening in Buenos Aires. Argentina, who for years has been...
Peking (lame) duck
A few weeks ago I wrote an article for Foreign Policy’s Transitions blog about Nicolás Maduro’s China trip. Given the influence China is playing in how Venezuela shapes...
Omnishambles Chronicles
Nicolás Maduro had barely finished making his big Foreign Exchange Control system announcement yesterday before he was in damage control mode. Having initially announced that a sum roughly equivalent...
Communicational hegemony = fun with numbers
Pro-government website Noticias 24 had an interesting headline this morning: In other words, Venezuela was one of the countries in Latin America that received the highest numbers of...
Merentes' sin? Brutal honesty
It’s hard to dislike poor Finance Minister Nelson Merentes. In a sea of chavista insanity, he usually comes across as a sort-of reasonable guy or, at the very...
Giving people free money can be expensive!
Reading Quico’s arbitrage how-to-manual, the casual reader could be forgiven for thinking that these are the exceptions in Venezuela. It’s not like that. The revolution is all about...
The butterfly effect
On October 22, 1991, something momentuous took place in Venezuela. You probably don’t remember hearing about it in the news. Heck, maybe it didn’t even make the news...
A Samán-onic decision
While the government is busy putting pressure on supermarkets and the media to “control” food shortages, what about those organized street vendors who sell scarce in the streets...
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