Venezuela Currency and the Political Struggle of the Country

Venezuela is under considerable political and economic turmoil currently. While once it was one of the most prosperous countries in Latin America. Venezuela’s currency is no longer of any use.

Nevertheless, bolivares didn’t stop from becoming a commodity elsewhere. Hector Cordero is using the currency to make purses and wallets, across the border in Columbia. Then it sells it to tourists in Columbia.

Cordero is from Caracas. He told Al Jazeera that the bolivares soberanos notes are worth nothing.  Since last year he uses the notes which are not circulating.

Cordero uses about 70 notes of 100 bolivares, says the report. He handcrafts a small coin purse or at least a hundred letters to weave a large wallet. He says that a handbag can take upwards of 1,200 notes to produce.

Cordero said that his brother goes to Venezuela to bring more notes, in case he runs out of bolivares. People have a lot of notes, and they buy them. Instead, they give that they ask.

In Venezuela, counterfeit bills are exchanged for other currencies (most commonly U.S. dollars) or food.

Opposition-controlled National Assembly shows that the inflation rate for October 2019 was 20.7 shows the opposition-controlled National Assembly data. Meanwhile, the cumulative inflation for 2019 was 4,035 percent. Most probably, Venezuela’s rise this year will reach 200,000 percent, says the IMF (International Monetary Fund). Al Jazeera reports that the economy will contract by 35 percent for Venezuela.

In Venezuela since January, there was thrust into a political push-and-pull between opposition leader Juan Guaido and embattled leader Nicolas Maduro. Earlier this year, Juan Guaido took the interim president role and created a parallel government.

Venezuela Politics

Dozens of nations and the United States recognized youthful congressional leaders as the country’s legitimate president. The United States and other nations threw their support behind him. They said that the Nicolas Maduro won the re-election by fraud and that he banned most of his opponents.

Nevertheless, the cracks appeared in Guaido’s base of support in the National Assembly. His re-election as a president of the congress is no longer assured.

Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves. Nevertheless, gasoline shortages plague the nation. Moreover, most of the homes don’t have electricity and reliable drinking water. Other than these, there are shortages of spare parts, medicine, and food. Approximately 4.5 million people have left the country.

Maduro proved that he is more resilient than many expected. His approval ratings dipped closer to 10 percent in the other polls.

Under the U.S. sanctions, Venezuela crashed to a seven-decade low. After it, oil production inched up for the second consecutive month. Deriving from these shoppers are increasingly pulling United States dollars from their wallets. But there is a sign that the economy is bouncing back, or at least stabilizes. It is due to an easing of controls of currency that the government had earlier resisted.

The National Assembly must decide whether to extend Guaido’s tenure or not, in January. The Guaido said that he is confident on re-election. Let’s see what happens in the next year, and what decisions will other nations make.