Venezuela arrests 131 people on charges of ‘economic sabotage’

The regimes of Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro have long employed tactics of intimidation against private businesses, mainly by coercing them to lower their prices. Private operations are now closing at an unprecedented rate because of steep costs and an inability to turn a profit, or merely fear of reprisal from the regime. According to figures from Consecomercio, 40 percent of shops have closed this year, and that figure is only expected to rise. More…