Venezuela Goes from Bad to Worse

ot only Nicolás Maduro has inherited the presidential chair, but has he the heavy economic legacy from Hugo Chávez. With two devaluations of the bolivar currency this year and a third looming in the horizon, the battered economy of Venezuela is starting to put the president of the Republic against the wall. It has all been as if hunger and an urge to eat had had become accomplices to create this situation. By forcing businesses to lower their prices, without a criterion of rationality and in a gesture of obscene demagogy, the Government recently gave the country’s commercial establishments a surprise attack that left their shelves completely empty. The aftermath? Chronic shortages that now affect both providers and consumers. More...