Chaos in Venezuela as Nicolas Maduro flip-flops on currency withdrawal

By Friday a general sense of chaos had spread throughout the country of 31 million, which has been suffering from a severe economic crisis for the past nearly four years. Amid the confusion, protests and looting broke out. In the western city of Guasdualito three banks were sacked or burned and a woman was reportedly wounded by a gunshot. One man died in Callao in eastern Venezuela amid looting. The following day, Maduro abruptly announced a stay of execution for the the 100 bolivar bills, blaming the same international conspiracy for delaying the planeloads of cash that were bringing the new notes. He declared the old bills would be good until 2 January calling the decision a “necessary tactical change in tack”. The borders with Colombia would remain closed until then to prevent the entry into Venezuela of what the government says are huge caches of bills being hoarded. More…