Group items tagged

In the beginning of October, Venezuela cut six zeros from its currency in an attempt to fight inflation. Similar attempts have occurred, in 2018 for example, but the effects typically don't last more than a few years. Bolivars in cash are rarely used for everyday purchases anymore.

Venezuela has decided to launch a government cryptocurrency: "Venezuela had announced in August that it is revamping its national currency, the bolivar and launching its central bank digital currency (CBDC) - the digital bolivar - on 1 October". While it may not be something they keep forever, it seems like it could help in the short term as Venezuela suffers from hyperinflation.

Alex Saab, a Colombian businessman, is accused in the U.S. of siphoning millions from programs intended to help the needy in Venezuela.

After a slight turn towards the better, the relationship between Venezuela and the United States has tensed up again. After one of Maduro's allies, Alex Saab, was extradited (handed over (a person accused or convicted of a crime) to the jurisdiction of the foreign state in which the crime was committed), Maduro called off all negotiations with the US that could have lead to rapprochement. This article then details some of the mistrust the US government has in Maduro.

An interesting article on the Chilean election. This theme reflects on our study of economic approaches, in particular the aftermath of the shock therapy first instituted in Latin America to combat inflation in Chile. This policy was so painful for so many people that, in the 2000s, South America experienced a sharp political left turn, one of whose leaders is Chavez. He has ruled Venezuela with an almost autocratic grip, but seems at his weakest in years for this year's election.

Venezuela. You can control f now.

Venezuela introduces a new currency to combat inflation.

Venezuela was hit hard by hyperinflation and US sanctions. With distrust in the government's currency and economic systems, cryptocurrency has become increasingly popular in the country: "In Venezuela, crypto is mainly used to hedge against inflation that causes bank deposits to sharply depreciate in weeks or even days"

Doesn't Venezuela already have tons of oil?

People are looting and trying to steal food and the govt seems to not be doing anything about it.

Venezuela, under the leadership of President Maduro, has started to to use military force, intimidation, and imprisonment to address the coronavirus and consolidate political power. It is believed that the virus presents a threat to the Venezuelan government because it exposes the country's lack of resources and vulnerability in times of turmoil. It has now essentially become a crime to contract the virus because one can be labeled a bio-terrorist. I was drawn to this article because I wanted to see how other countries have been addressing the virus and this approach certainly stood out to me.

This article is really interesting. I think it highlights the fact that a crisis shows the true colors of a government and what they value. In this case they clearly don't value the lives of their citizens. Although their methods may be effective at slowing the spread of coronavirus, given the conditions the so called "bio-terrorists" are forced to live in, they are not effective at keeping their citizens healthy. Rather, the government is only employing this method to perpetuate power. From what I have seen in this and other articles, it appears that in many places around the world the government's response to COVID-19 has less to do with protecting the health and well being of citizens and more to do with maintaining power and image.

This article is both fascinating and deeply disturbing. Like Jalen said, this really does put on full display what a government actually cares about. I saw in the article that Pres. Maduro said "[his citizens are] given care that's unique in the world, humane care, loving, Christian," and having done a quick google search I've realized that Venezuala is an officially Roman Catholic country. I found this interesting, and I've often wondered why countries that are officially religious seem so often not to adhere to the values of those religions, while claiming that they do. An easy answer is to protect their reputation and economy, but I'd love to look into it more.

This article talked about the benefit of dollarization in Venezuela. I never thought about how other currencies' integration could be an economic tool, but it makes a lot of sense how it could help in this case: "Venezuelans spontaneously began to adopt the dollar in 2019 as a way of fending off hyperinflation".

Venezuela has some of the highest femicide rates in the world. On average a woman is killed every 23 hours in Venezuela. So when a 14 year old girl was brutally murdered by her boyfriend, her story sparked national outrage, and eventually global.

It is always interesting to compare vaccination rates in other nations. I feel like people often use Venezuela as an example of a "dysfunctional" country, but their vaccination rates aren't that bad considering the state of their economy.

People in Venezuela have started using the gold standard again because their currency has collapsed to such an extent.

Russia hinted that they wanted to calm any U.S. fears about building a nuclear power plant in Venezuela, whose government is not exactly the closest of the United States' friends. Just an illustration of lingering tension over socialism vs. capitalism, the Cold War, and the spread of nuclear technology. Russia has been building plants worldwide in a mission to sell nuclear energy.

One thing that jumped out at me when I read the article is that Russia's first reaction when announcing this plan was to attempt to quell US fears and tell the US that we shouldn't be getting involved. Interesting that other countries see the US as so involved in their affairs that the first thing they do when they do something controversial that does not involve us to to justify it to us...