What 52,000 Percent Inflation Can Do to a Country

A new era isn’t likely to begin as long as Maduro remains in power. He has shown no interest in taking steps that might restore economic balance, like cutting spending and tying the bolívar to a solid foreign currency. Washington murmurs about regime change. But the biggest threat to Maduro now may be a series of civil cases in American courts against Citgo. The Venezuela-owned company is the regime’s biggest generator of hard currency, the only asset creditors can go after. If these cases succeed in claiming damages for being nationalized by the Chávez regime, Maduro’s main lifeline could be cut off. “If the money disappears,” de Bolle says, “so does his support, and the regime crumbles.” Only then, it seems, will Venezuelans be able to escape a nightmare in which they can’t trust the money in their hands. More…