Venezuela (2006-2018)

Indeed the man who largely created this mess died before the economy went from a disaster to an utter catastrophe:

Venezuela Doesn't Have Enough Money to Pay for Its Money

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In a tale that highlights the chaos of unbridled inflation, Venezuela is scrambling to print new bills fast enough to keep up with the torrid pace of price increases. Most of the cash, like nearly everything else in the oil-exporting country, is imported. And with hard currency reserves sinking to critically low levels, the central bank is doling out payments so slowly to foreign providers that they are foregoing further business.

Venezuela, in other words, is now so broke that it may not have enough money to pay for its money.

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It is certainly an excellent case in point that elections do matter sometimes a very great deal and an economy in tatters can still fall to formerly unthinkable lows.

Ultra-violent gangs thrive in chaotic Venezuela despite crackdown

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The operations also encourage gang leaders to unite and seek more powerful weapons, said Keymer Avila, part of a group of Venezuelan and foreign academics researching crime in the country.

At his safe house, Anderson confirmed that.

"It's better to work together than be enemies. It's better to make war with the police than with each other."

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The click-clack of guns being cocked echoes in the cement safe house where seven kidnappers keep watch over a western Caracas slum, their 33-year-old gang leader boasting of grenade attacks on police and growing wealth and power.

Venezuela's socialist economy is suffering triple-digit inflation, severe shortages and a third year of recession, but gangs like this have found strength and profit in the chaos.

They are teaming up with former rivals and buying heavier weapons to control ever-larger territory in the capital and beyond, the criminals, the government and criminologists say.

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http://www.reuters.com/article/us-ve...-idUSKCN1162AJ

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Embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced plans Monday to expand the number of civilians involved in armed militias as tensions in the crisis-wracked South American nation continued to rise.
Maduro said he hopes to expand the number of civilians involved in the Bolivarian militias created by the late Hugo Chavez to 500,000, up from the current 100,000, and provide each member with a gun.
Speaking to thousands of militia members dressed in beige uniforms gathered in front of the presidential palace to mark the force's seventh anniversary, Maduro said it is time for Venezuelans to decide if they are "with the homeland" or against it.

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http://abcnews.go.com/International/...itias-46850100

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CARACAS -- Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced that he was increasing the nation's militia paramilitary force to half-a-million and instructed members to seize power in the oil-rich nation in case he is unseated.

"If the right wing attempts a coup d'etat, go out and seize power," the embattled President said Monday. "I have approved the plan for Defense Minister Padrino Lopez to expand our militia to 500,000 men and equip each of them, including a rifle."

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http://www.laht.com/article.asp?Arti...tegoryId=10717

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CARACAS (Reuters) - General Motors said on Wednesday that Venezuelan authorities had illegally seized its plant in the industrial hub of Valencia and vowed to "take all legal actions" to defend its rights.
The seizure comes amid a deepening economic crisis in leftist-led Venezuela that has already roiled many U.S. companies.
"Yesterday, GMV's (General Motors Venezolana) plant was unexpectedly taken by the public authorities, preventing normal operations. In addition, other assets of the company, such as vehicles, have been illegally taken from its facilities," the company said in a statement.
It said the seizure would cause irreparable damage to the company, its 2,678 workers, its 79 dealers and to its suppliers.

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http://finance.yahoo.com/news/genera...--finance.html

A concise explanation how Venezuela ended up as it does today, via the UK academic website 'The Conversation':https://theconversation.com/how-vene...o-chaos-75685?

Puputov: Generally made in glass containers containing feces and urine inside and sealed with lid and tape.

I really don't think this requires a translation to English, now does it?

La razn por la que #Puputov se posicion como primera etiqueta en Twitter
Los ciudadanos lanzaron heces fecales en contra de los uniformados para defenderse de la represin policial y militar
http://www.el-nacional.com/noticias/...twitter_181248

https://cdn.meme.am/cache/instances/...x/63187924.jpg

#Venezuela is on the brink of #CivilWar. Riots leave 37 dead, 700 wounded, 1800 imprisoned...
https://twitter.com/NIRPUmbrella/sta...98223770599425

COULD VENEZUELA BE THE NEXT SYRIA?
Max Brooks | July 25, 2017
https://mwi.usma.edu/venezuela-next-syria/

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VALENCIA/CARACAS, Venezuela, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Venezuelan authorities suppressed a small rebellion at a military base near the city of Valencia on Sunday, arresting seven men who they say participated in a "terrorist attack" against the government of unpopular leftist President Nicolas Maduro.
Earlier on Sunday a video circulated on social media showing a group of men in military uniform announcing an uprising in the wake of the creation of a pro-government legislative superbody on Friday, which was widely condemned as a power grab.
Hundreds took to the streets in Valencia to support the uprising, said resident Carolina Herrera, who like other witnesses reported shots through the night.
But hooded protesters had been largely dispelled with tear gas by midday on Sunday, and the rest of the South American country of 30 million appeared to be calm.

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http://news.trust.org/item/20170806130145-6xfon

Ah, the joys of a disarmed society.

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Caracas (AFP) - Venezuela's military was on Monday hunting an ex-officer and a lieutenant who led uniformed rebels on a weekend raid to grab weapons from an army base, fueling fears the country's worsening crisis could tip into armed conflict.
The defense minister and head of the armed forces, General Vladimir Padrino, said the ex-National Guard captain, Juan Carlos Caguaripano, and the lieutenant, Jefferson Gabriel Garcia, were behind Sunday's attack on the base in the northwestern city of Valencia by 20 men in uniform.
They are "enemies of the nation," Padrino said.

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https://www.yahoo.com/news/terrorist...132429761.html

Admiral Stavridis was the 16th Supreme Allied Commander at NATO and is Dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University

It's Time to Plan for Civil War In Venezuela
James Stavridis
Sep 07, 2017

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An enormous crisis is brewing just a few hundred miles south of Miami: Venezuela, a nation of more than 30 million people, with the largest oil reserves in the world, is on the brink of collapse and civil war. The implications for the Americas are profound and dangerous. What should the U.S. be doing while Caracas sinks into anarchy?

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http://time.com/4931053/its-time-to-...-in-venezuela/

While Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, and blockchain technology that underpins it all is on a speculative roller coaster ride.......Bitcoin mining is playing a role in survival within Venezuela:

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine...ezuela/534177/

I suspect cryptocurrencies and the underlying blockchain will be playing an increasingly important role from current obscurity to future center stage potentially used by all sides as a means of exchange, store of value, theft for revenue, as well as the otherwise of the proverbial coin for stability ops.

Right now it seems to a means of survival for some digitally savvy folks trying to survive and the police hunting them to confiscate their bit mining systems for the same reasons.

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CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan leftist President Nicolas Maduro said on Tuesday that “terrorists” had broken into a National Guard unit over the weekend and stolen weapons, the latest sign of volatility in the oil-rich country convulsed by a profound economic crisis.

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https://www.reuters.com/article/us-v...-idUSKBN1EE06Q

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CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan authorities arrested a National Guard soldier over the weekend and accused him of shooting a pregnant 18 year-old during an incident that local media described as a melee over scarce pork. Alexandra Colopoy was gunned down by First Sergeant David Rebolledo, according to a tweet by the state prosecutor late Sunday night. No further details were provided, but critics of President Nicolas Maduro’s leftist government seized on the incident, calling it a stark example of the oil-rich country’s meltdown.

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https://www.reuters.com/article/us-v...-idUSKBN1ER03Q

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Venezuelan gangs are no longer recruiting youths in some poor areas by offering them easy money to buy clothes or the latest cell phones. Instead, they are offering food baskets.

And on the streets, walking around with a bag of groceries can attract more thieves than a full wallet.

The critical food shortages pummeling Venezuela have started to change the nature of crime in the country, at times increasing what some experts have started to call “hunger crimes” and at other times turning food into a valuable item to be taken by force.

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Even though it has the world’s largest proven oil reserves, Venezuela is suffering one of the most severe economic crises of its modern history as a result of the policies imposed by the socialist regimes of Hugo Chávez and his successor, Nicolás Maduro.

The crisis has forced millions of Venezuelans to eat just once a day, and thousands of others to regularly search garbage cans in hopes of finding something to eat, according to recent surveys.

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http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nati...193044269.html

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Mobs gathered outside some Caracas supermarkets on Saturday after the government ordered shops to slash prices, creating chaos as desperate Venezuelans leapt at the chance to buy cheaper food as the country's worsening economy causes severe shortages. The leftist administration of President Nicolas Maduro ordered more than 200 supermarkets to cut prices back to last month's levels - a tall order in a country where many prices change daily due to the world's fastest inflation rate. When one major supermarket in wealthier eastern Caracas did not open for hours, people began pounding on the storefront. "This scares me, but what can I do?" said Francisco Guaita, a carpenter hoping to find food for his three children, over the shouts and pushes.

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https://www.yahoo.com/news/m/c5767b4...mobbed-as.html

I think I've seen this movie before

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Originally Posted by Firn

It is certainly an excellent case in point that elections do matter sometimes a very great deal and an economy in tatters can still fall to formerly unthinkable lows.

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Indeed the fall seems never-ending. The resources of the state and the nation are almost exhausted. We seem to have now a situation approaching slowly the one of a huge prison camp where loyalty and support to the regime running it becomes increasingly key to just survive. You howl with the wolves and suffer or you risk the life of you and your relatives.

How long can this go on? As written before for now the grip on power and people by the dictator and his inner circle has been reinforced by the ability to determine largely who gets ever more sparse food. It has created a vicious spiral downwards and rightly those in command have to fear what happens when power changes hands...

Still someday Chavism will end but as Mugabe has shown us the downfall can last decades.

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This deep tragedy and reminds one of the importance of the respect for law and science, fair and free elections by educated and thinking citizens. A stronger safety net might have been decisive to avoid the election of Chavez but the elite opposed it. Even little things would have mattered as it was fairly close. I wonder what our Italian elections will bring, so many seem to want change at all cost and the polls are a nightmare with the bad populists of all sorts clearly leading.

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Originally Posted by AdamG

I think I've seen this movie before

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SAN CRISTOBAL/BARINAS, Venezuela, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Hungry mobs ransacked a food collection center, and a supermarket in Venezuela's western Andean state of Merida on Thursday and reportedly even slaughtered cattle grazing in a field as unrest over food shortages spread through the country.
An opposition lawmaker from Merida, Carlos Paparoni, said four people had died and 10 were injured in the chaos over the last two days, but he did not specify the circumstances.

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https://news.trust.org/item/20180112035017-q9adf

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Sporadic looting, food riots and protests driven by the hungry poor have surged in Venezuela, a country that’s no stranger to unrest. But the uprisings playing out recently have a different face than the mostly middle-class protesters who took to the streets for months last year in political demonstrations trying to oust President Nicolas Maduro.

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Venezuela holds the world’s largest oil reserves and was once among Latin America’s wealthiest nations. But after nearly two decades of socialist rule and mismanagement of the state-run oil company, it is being battered by the worst economic crisis in its history.

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Financial sanctions imposed in August by the Trump administration are only adding to Venezuelans’ misery, choking off the country’s access to credit and scaring away oil companies.
Meanwhile, hunger is widespread.
Recently a dozen men stormed a street-side deli in the western city of Barquisimeto. Surveillance cameras captured them leaping over the glass counter as customers and employees scrambled out of the way. They wiped the store clean in minutes.
Cattle ranchers say at least two farms have been raided by people who slaughtered cows. A video on Twitter shows a dozen men in the state of Merida killing a cow with rocks and a machete, one shouting: “We are hungry.”
In the first half of January, there were at least 110 incidents of looting, more than five times than in the same period a year earlier, says the Venezuelan Observatory of Social Conflict, a non-governmental group that tracks unrest.
Food and the cash to pay for it are more difficult to find, especially outside the capital of Caracas. And even when people have money, prices are often beyond their reach, with the inflation rate soaring above 2,600 percent in 2017, the opposition- controlled National Assembly says.

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https://apnews.com/e6af78e0506748d49...nomic-tailspin

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Financial sanctions imposed in August by the Trump administration are only adding to Venezuelans’ misery, choking off the country’s access to credit and scaring away oil companies.

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Looks like those sanctions might give the Venezuelan people the best shot they've had in decades.

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The government of Venezuelan President Nicols Maduro, hated by much of the country's population and sanctioned by a growing number of countries, is facing problems keeping the police and military happy as food shortages and hyperinflation start to hit their barracks.
Recent meetings and internal documents of the Venezuelan armed forces point to concern in the Maduro regime as troops grow more demoralized and commanders report an increase in the number of insubordination cases and desertions.
In addition to the signs of unrest among the Army and National Guard units, the government also faces a tense relationship with the investigative police agency known by its initials in Spanish, CICPC, after the recent public execution of rebel policeman Oscar Perez, who was killed by security forces in an assault broadcast live through social media.

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Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nati...#storylink=cpy