Maduro Wants Dollars to Feed His Cronies, Not His People
Venezuela’s market maneuvers reveal a leader who wants to have his revolution and short it, too.
Now accepting dollars.
Photographer: Yuri Cortez/AFP via Getty Images
Under the misrule of Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela has ginned up a fake currency (the petro), fantasy price controls and a bootleg president of the legislative assembly. Now comes fake capitalism.
With the economy crumbling and millions fleeing the country, the heir and keeper of what Hugo Chavez branded 21st-century socialism has allowed once-taboo dollars to flood the market. Private companies, yesterday’s enemies of the revolution, are peddling luxuries from designer rum to imported cars. The Caracas club scene is on fire. Maduro is even flirting with privatizing the state oil company PDVSA, the Bolivarian crown jewel.