Pity the bolívar, Venezuela’s currency,
named after its independence hero, Simón Bolívar. Even some thieves don’t want
it anymore. When robbers carjacked Pedro Venero, an engineer, he expected they
would drive him to his bank to cash his check for a hefty sum in bolívars — the
sort of thing that crime-weary Venezuelans have long since gotten used to. But
the ruffians, armed with rifles and a hand grenade, were sure he would have a
stash of dollars at home and wanted nothing to do with the bolívars in his bank
account. “They told me straight up, ‘Don’t worry about that,’ ” Mr. Venero
said. “ ‘Forget about it.’ ” The eagerness to dump bolívars or avoid them
completely shows the extent to which Venezuelans have lost faith in their
economy and in the ability of the country’s government to find a way out of the
mess. More…
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