Boundless outrage

The Venezuelan government's criminal decision to invalidate 77% of the country's cash will be remembered as the most unhinged, unfair, and immoral economic measure of our history.

Starting yesterday, the decision to withdraw the Bs.100 bill from circulation paralyzed a whole sector of the economy: private and small-value transactions, informal commerce; affecting precisely those in need, the poorest and most underprivileged, people who need cash to get by because they don’t have a bank account.

Photo: @goyosalazar

The person in this picture came from Valencia to Caracas, and spent seven hours in line in front of the Central Bank (BCV) to exchange the equivalent of one dollar ($1) of the United States. But the BCV doesn’t have any other type of bills, so he was given a promisory note “to be paid at BCV offices.” This is a tragic irony, since this note is technically also a banknote, except it completely lacks value, can’t be exchanged, and isn’t worth a thing.

Chavismo has subjected the people to a horrifying humiliation. They have diminished humanity to its minimum expression. They have stripped Venezuelans off their dignity. They have put us through the cruelest of sufferings.

The consequence of this mindless decision is more hunger, unemployment, destruction, and death.

My outrage is boundless.