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American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

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Venezuela: US bans the petro

The new cryptocurrency cannot be legally traded in the USA:

U.S. Bans Use of Venezuela’s Cryptocurrency. Official blasts so-called petro as ‘a desperate attempt by a corrupt regime to defraud international investors’.

With the economy in shambles and the country cut off from debt markets, Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro launched the so-called petro cryptocurrency last month in a bid to skirt intensifying financial sanctions from the U.S., the European Union and others aiming to punish the government for its authoritarian rule.

“Investing in the petro should be seen as investing in the dictatorship,” a senior U.S. official said after President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning the currency.

Indeed, (emphasis added)

U.S. officials say any other cryptocurrencies created by Venezuela’s government in the future will also be subject to the ban, which took effect immediately. Echoing the U.S. action, Venezuelan lawmakers opposed to Mr. Maduro say the petro is illegal because it was created without parliamentary approval, raising questions about the asset’s validity if there were a change of power.

The petro is the regime’s cheap excuse for a make-believe revenue source in exchange for nothing. If they were simply oriented towards creating a money laundering tool, there’s plenty of bitcoin action in that direction.

In other Venezuela news,
Tuberculosis is on the upswing

A city issues its currency: Venezuelan City Launches Its Own Currency Amid Cash Crunch

Even the Russians are starting to worry: Rosneft seeks to ease fears over Venezuela loans.
Russian oil producer says repayments are being made on schedule

Last, but not least,

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Venezuela: Diamonds for drugs

Cash-Strapped Venezuela Offers to Pay for Medicines With Diamonds (emphasis added),

CARACAS, Venezuela—With hospital shelves bare and the government stumped on how to settle $5 billion in arrears to pharmaceutical companies, cash-strapped Venezuela recently offered some foreign suppliers alternative compensation: diamonds, gold and coltan, the rare metal used to make cellphones and Playstations.

The proposed exchange perplexed the pharma representatives, whose companies had no policies on accepting precious gems and metals as payment, according to three people familiar with the meeting last month where Venezuela’s health minister made the offer.

While it isn’t clear if any of the companies accepted it, the proposal underscores how Venezuela’s economic collapse is forcing President Nicolás Maduro’s embattled administration to improvise to pay for goods as severe dollar shortages push the country toward a barter society.

Just last week Maduro was trying to float the petro criptocurrency with gold and diamonds.

Meanwhile,

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Venezuela: No pork? Blame Portugal!

I found this on my Twitter feed,

What the hey?
Maduro accuses Portugal of sabotaging Christmas following failed pork deliveries</a

Traditionally, Venezuelan’s cook a pork roast instead of turkey for Christmas, so when President Nicolas Maduro’s promise of subsidised pork failed to materialise, frustration boiled over into what some have dubbed the “pork revolution.”

“Pork revolution”? (emphasis added; video below the fold)

Local media and Twitter users posted images of hundreds of people standing on streets and burning trash in protest at the shortages, in what some social media users dubbed the “pork revolution”.

Maduro, who has been alleging a foreign-led “economic war” against his government, went on state TV to blame Portugal for failing to deliver pork imports in time for Christmas.

“What happened to the pork? They sabotaged us. I can name a country: Portugal,” Maduro said.

“We bought all the Pork we had in Venezuela. We bought everything,” he continued.

“But we had to import and so I gave the order, signed the agreements but they pursued the bank accounts of the boats,”

“We were chased by two giant ships that came and sabotaged us, but only for now”.

And here I thought I was starting to run out of absurd Maduro stories.

Rumor has it that Maduro wants out. With the apparent backing of China, Russia and the Cuban military, why would he want to? Especially now that he’s trying to float the petro criptocurrency with not only gold and diamonds, but also by promising,

“Every single Petro will be backed by a barrel of oil,” Maduro said, promising to provide cryptocurrency mining throughout Venezuela. “We will set up a special team of cryptocurrency specialists so they will be engaged in mining in all states and municipalities of our country.”

Says the guy who couldn’t deliver the bacon. How do they say “when pigs fly” in Venezuela?

Video in Spanish below the fold,
[Read more…]

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