International Venezuela, The Socialist Dystopia, v2: The region's worst humanitarian crisis in decades

Venezuela crisis: Maduro to curb fuel subsidies for those who don't register for "Fatherland ID"
August 14, 2018

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Venezuela's president has said its subsidised fuel prices should rise, to stop smugglers cheating the country out of billions of dollars.

"Gasoline must be sold at an international price to stop smuggling to Colombia and the Caribbean," Nicolás Maduro said in a televised address.

Like many oil producing nations, Venezuela offers its citizens heavily subsidised petrol.

A fuel price rise in 1989 caused deadly riots in the capital, Caracas.

What's behind the move?

Venezuela's economy is in freefall, with the International Monetary Fund predicting inflation rates will reach a million percent this year - but the price of fuel has barely changed.

The price of a litre of petrol in Venezuela currently stands at 1 bolivar. On the black market, Venezuelans pay more than 4m bolivares for one US dollar.

That means that for the equivalent of one dollar, Venezuelans can fill the tank of a medium-sized car about 720 times.

Smuggling the subsidised fuel from Venezuela into neighbouring countries, where prices are much higher, is big business.

Venezuela loses $18bn to fuel smuggling annually, according to government figures. President Maduro says adapting Venezuelan fuel prices to international levels will stamp out smuggling.

The move is part of a wider plan to increase government revenue in the face of falling oil production, Venezuela's main export income.

Will all Venezuelans have to pay full whack now?

No, according to President Maduro "only those individuals who don't answer the call to register will have to pay fuel at international prices".

The president said that all Venezuelans who hold the "Fatherland ID", a government-issued identity card introduced by his administration in 2017, will continue to receive "direct subsidies" for "about two years".

However, many Venezuelans opposed to Mr Maduro's government have refused to get the ID cards, alleging they are used by officials to keep tabs on them.

The price rise is therefore expected to hit opponents of President Maduro in greater numbers than those who support him.

President Maduro said he would announce further details of how the new subsidies scheme would work in the coming days. It is expected to come into effect on 20 August.

What's the 'Fatherland ID'?

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Critics of President Maduro refuse to apply for the "Fatherland ID"

President Maduro introduced the new ID card in January 2017 arguing it would serve to make his socialist government's social programmes more effective.

Getting the ID is free and voluntary for anyone over 15 but those who apply have to answer a series of questions about their socio-economic status and what state benefits, if any, they are receiving.

According to government figures, by January 2018, 16.5 million Venezuelans out of 31.5 million citizens had applied for a "Fatherland ID".

Only those who are in possession of the ID can apply to receive subsidised food parcels and other state benefits.

Government critics opposed the introduction of the Fatherland ID from the start, arguing that there was no need for it as Venezuelans already had government-issued ID cards.

They said that it was a way to restrict the hand-out of state benefits to government supporters. They also fear that the government uses the Fatherland ID to collect information on citizens.

Will the new measure end smuggling?

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Venezuelan subsidised petrol is smuggled across to Colombia in gerry cans

Unlikely, as smugglers who hold a Fatherland ID or apply for one will still be able to buy fuel at rock bottom prices and sell it at a massive profit in Colombia and other countries.

Some opposition politicians fear that the measure will be used as a way to introduce petrol rationing through the back door by limiting the amount each individual can buy on his Fatherland ID. But so far no limits on the amount of petrol people can buy have been announced.

Why are fuel price rises so controversial?
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In the city of Maracaibo, military trucks have been used to transport people

Venezuelans are very car-dependant. It is not unusual for families to have multiple cars and for them to drive long distances to work.

For those who cannot afford cars getting around has become increasingly difficult. Public transport is poor and has worsened in recent years as a lack of maintenance has led to a shortage of public buses.

Venezuelans complain about having to queue to get on trucks previously used to transport livestock. Many spend hours commuting to and from work.

A rise in the price of fuel would not just hit those who drive their own cars as companies running bus routes would likely pass on the price hike to their customers.

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A rise in the price of petrol, food and public transport led to riots in 1989

There have been very few fuel price rises since 1989 when such a rise - amid other austerity measures - sparked massive riots in Caracas and its environs.

The president at the time sent troops into the streets to quell the riots and hundreds of people were killed.

The incident, known as the Caracazo, has haunted Venezuelans ever since.

 
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Yup unfortunately that is how things work for the better mass clemancy mass revenge killings will further terrorize the nation and could lead to one dictatorship to another.

As just being merely accused of suporting Maduro can result in you ending up castrated in public if a climate of revenge is fostered by the next leadership.

I am for the heads of all these dictator enablers but I do understand how this could end bad if pursued extremely.

From what I can see now that they are running out of water if things continue the way Maduro runs the country I wont be surprise if they run out of farts too.
I mean you have to forgive otherwise you'll never move forwards. You'll ND up creating resistant cells to protect themselves from vengeance .
That said, it's amazing how bad things are when hospitals don't have water, soldiers fight for three meals a day and some tp.
This seems to be spiraling
 
I wonder how long will this Madurodur nightmare will last? People are already running out of water!
 
I wonder how long will this Madurodur nightmare will last? People are already running out of water!

Can't understand how it went this far and its not like Maduro will turn the economy around. Just waiting for a coup hope it it comes soon
 
Socialists always figure out a way to make shit holes even shittier.
And them, the socialists in our homeland aka traitors want to force american people to receive these "refugees". Fuck that.
 
Can't understand how it went this far and its not like Maduro will turn the economy around. Just waiting for a coup hope it it comes soon

Exactly I don't see anything in Maduros recent remarks that he is willing to make any coherent economic reforms nor allow foreign aid to enter his country all he is doing is blaming every country as if continuing to antagonize capitalist countries will solve anything in his country.
 
Exactly I don't see anything in Maduros recent remarks that he is willing to make any coherent economic reforms nor allow foreign aid to enter his country all he is doing is blaming every country as if continuing to antagonize capitalist countries will solve anything in his country.

Here's his grand plan:

Venezuela Cuts to Fight Inflation (Zeroes From Its Currency, That Is)
By Nicholas Casey | Aug. 16, 2018

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MEDELLÍN, Colombia — Faced with nearly incomprehensible inflation — 32,714 percent as of Wednesday — Venezuelan officials thought they had a solution: They changed the color of the bank notes and increased their denomination. Then they said they would lop off three zeros. And when that didn’t seem enough, they announced they would cut off two more.

The tactics have left Venezuelans like Yosmar Nowak, the owner of a coffee shop in Caracas, convinced that there is no solution in sight and that the government cannot even bring down the price of a cup of coffee, an eye-watering 2 million bolívars.

“I imagine if we keep like this we’re going to have to do the same thing in December,” said Ms. Nowak, who has been forced to raise prices in her cafe at least 40 times this year.

Slashing zeros from Venezuela’s inflation-cursed currency, the bolívar, is the tent-pole of a set of economic changes by President Nicolás Maduro as he tries to right his country’s capsized economy. The five-digit inflation has earned Venezuela comparisons to the hyperinflation of Zimbabwe and Weimar Germany from the International Monetary Fund.

The newly minted currency, which will be known as the “sovereign bolívar,” will be rolled out on Monday. In addition, the president has ordered measures that his United Socialist Party has been loath to consider in the past: An increase in gas prices for some drivers and a modest ease in the currency controls that have made dollars inaccessible to most Venezuelans for years.

Yet these changes haven’t been enough to convince economists, who see desperation in Mr. Maduro’s latest moves and view the new currency as another chapter in the decades of mismanagement that have destroyed the Venezuelan economy.

“It’s a cosmetic thing that’s happening, the zeros,” said Steve Hanke, an applied economics professor at Johns Hopkins University who has advised governments facing hyperinflation. “It means nothing unless you change economic policy.”

By removing the zeros, Mr. Maduro is looking to solve what economists call hyperinflation’s “wheelbarrow problem” — the point when the currency has become so worthless that a wheelbarrow of cash is necessary to make purchases.

The new currency, which will be phased in as the old one is phased out, would bring the price of that cup of coffee at Ms. Nowak’s shop down to the more manageable sum of 20 sovereign bolívars. But few think that price will hold for long.

“We’re expecting an increase in more than 1,000 percent for the minimum wage, and of course, more inflation,” Ms. Nowak said. The tumult is so great, she said, “we’re not going to open Monday.”

The problem isn’t to do with the zeros, but rather what’s causing them to appear. The Venezuelan government depends on sales from its state oil company to pay its debts. But mismanagement allowed production to sink to 1.2 million barrels a day in July — on par with the monthly rate in 1947.

Faced with this shortage, the government turns to the Central Bank to order more money printed. While that may pay the government’s bills in the short term, it comes at the expense of everyone who owns bolívars, as the surplus of printed cash makes existing money increasingly worthless.

And paying bills is only one of Mr. Maduro’s concerns.

On Aug. 4, two drones exploded over a military parade Mr. Maduro was attending, in what the government said was an assassination attempt. And the president faces increasing economic isolation after he was declared the winner of an election to extend his term to 2025, a vote widely regarded as rigged.

Amid this chaos, hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans are fleeing the country, finding daily life impossible in a country where grocery stores are empty and hospitals face water shortages, even in Caracas, the capital.

The rollout of the currency has also been troubled, too. At first, the government said it would remove three zeros from the bills. But on July 25, with the dollar trading for nearly 3.5 million bolívars on the black market and continuing to lose value, the government said it would lop off five instead.

The bolívar has only continued to lose value in the time since, with the dollar now approaching 6 million bolívars.

While the changes mean prices that are less astronomical, they also create another problem for Venezuelans: Dividing by the unwieldy number 100,000. Economists say devaluations are usually done in increments of tens, thousands or millions to facilitate the math.

“I am confused,” said Edwin García, a construction worker in Caracas who tried to calculate what his earnings would be.

Many stores in the capital now simply quote prices in dollars to avoid confusion.

It’s also unclear what backs the new currency, if anything at all.

Troubled currencies are usually stabilized with a pledge from the government that they may be exchanged for a stronger one, like dollars or euros. Mr. Maduro, by contrast, has said the new bolívar will be backed by the petro, a cryptocurrency his government rolled out in February.

And the petro itself, he said, is backed by oil reserves — a claim economists find troubling, given that much of the country’s oil production is earmarked to pay off debt to China and Russia.

“You’re pegging a currency to a toxic asset which no one wants,” said Daniel Lansberg-Rodríguez, a political columnist for the Venezuelan newspaper El Nacional who teaches at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

Mr. Maduro’s plan to raise gas prices has also been met with skepticism.

Venezuelans currently pay a fraction of a cent to fill up their tanks — the lowest price in the world. Mr. Maduro has pledged to continue subsidizing fuel for those who sign up for a government identification card and register their cars with the government, but he wants Venezuelans who don’t sign up to start paying the going international price.

“It allows you to target the subsidy to those willing to buy into the system,” said Mr. Lansberg-Rodríguez. ”It’s a bid for loyalty.”

In gas stations in Caracas, there were more doubts about the plan. Alejandro Bolívar, a station supervisor in the suburb of El Hatillo, said no one from the government had come to reset the machines to the new currency or to explain when they would need to start verifying if buyers had government ID cards.

For its part, the Venezuelan government claims inflation has been caused by an “economic war” waged by the United States and business people who oppose it.

But economists said that if Venezuela is to curb hyperinflation, it will have to stop printing money.

Mr. Hanke, the Johns Hopkins economist, recalls a similar situation in Yugoslavia, which he advised until 1991. Though Mr. Hanke objected to its currency changes, the country pushed ahead in 1990, removing four zeros from its bills. Its succeeding government removed another zero in 1992. In October 1993 it removed six zeros, in December nine more, and then at the start of 1994 another seven.

With hyperinflation running at 313 million percent per month, the mint couldn’t keep up.

And that country, Mr. Hanke noted, had a world-class mint. Mr. Maduro has no working mint, and must import bank notes.

“It’s an impossible situation,” said Mr. Hanke.

 
Can't understand how it went this far and its not like Maduro will turn the economy around. Just waiting for a coup hope it it comes soon
In 30 years we’ll hear about how the evil Americans toppled yet another democratically elected socialist and how great things were until the US started sanctioning them
 
Venezuelans rush to shop, fill tanks before monetary overhaul
By Shaylim Castro, Isaac Urrutia | August 17, 2018

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People line up to withdraw cash from an automated teller machine (ATM) outside a Banco Mercantil branch in Caracas, Venezuela August 17, 2018

CARACAS/MARACAIBO (Reuters) - Jittery Venezuelans on Friday rushed to shops and lined up at gas stations on concerns that a monetary overhaul to lop off five zeros from prices in response to hyperinflation could wreak financial havoc and make basic commerce impossible.

Shoppers sought to ensure their homes were fully stocked with essentials such as food and dry goods and their tanks full before the measure decreed by President Nicolas Maduro takes effect on Monday.

Inflation hit 82,700 percent in July, according to the opposition-run congress, as the country’s socialist economic model continued to unravel, meaning purchases of basic items such as a bar of soap or a kilo of tomatoes require piles of cash that is often difficult to obtain.

“I came to buy vegetables, but I’m leaving because I’m not going to wait in this line,” said Alicia Ramirez, 38, a business administrator, leaving a supermarket in the western city of Maracaibo. “People are going crazy.”

The change appears unlikely to generate the chaos of December 2016 when Maduro removed the largest note in circulation without providing a replacement for it. That led to protests, lootings and hundreds of arrests as the country was effectively left without legal tender.

Drivers also rushed to fill up on Venezuela’s heavily-subsidized gas, the world’s cheapest at around 2,896 gallons per U.S. penny. Some drivers were worried about paying for gas come Monday as there will be no new legal tender small enough to pay for a full tank.

Maduro also said this month that gas price should be increased, but has not provided a timeframe for the price hike. A half-dozen sources at service stations said they had not been briefed about any changes and were not expecting an imminent rise in prices.

“It’s better to be safe than to try to go out during the weekend and not to find open gas stations... I think people are more sad than angry about this,” said teacher Ana Perez, 50, as she lined up in a station in the once industry-filled city of Valencia.

Maduro, who has said the country is victim of an “economic war” led by political adversaries, said the new monetary measure would bring economic stability to the struggling OPEC nation.

But his critics have said the move is little more than an accounting maneuver that would do nothing to slow soaring prices. They blame inflation on failed socialist policies and indiscriminate money printing.

Because many transactions now happen via debit cards over point-of-sale terminals, many worry that the change - which banking industry leaders have said was carried out too quickly - could collapse financial networks.

Maduro has declared a public holiday for Monday, when a new set of bills will be introduced with the lower denominations. Internet banking operations will be halted for several hours starting on Sunday evening.

But the primary difference between the upcoming change and Maduro’s 2016 currency decision is that in this instance, most of the current ones will coexist with the new notes for an undetermined period while the new bills come into circulation.

That will in some circumstances leave consumers in the confusing situation of having to use old bills with face value of 1,000,000 bolivars to make purchases valued at 10 bolivars in the new denomination.

Poor Venezuelans without bank accounts have for months been carrying wads of cash to make basic purchases.

Buying one kilo of cheese, worth the equivalent of $1.14 at the most widely used exchange rate, requires 7,500 notes of 1,000 bolivar denomination - a note that was only brought fully into circulation in 2017.

One bar of soap, which sells for the equivalent of $0.53, requires 3,500 of the same notes.

“This is going to be complete disaster, we don’t have information,” said Yoleima Manrique, 42, assistant manager of a home appliance store in Caracas. “It’s going to be crazy for the clients and for us.”

 
Venezuela Devalues Currency by 96% and Hikes Wages by 6000%, Stoking Fears About Instability
The response to Maduro’s measures, meant to reassure the public, was one of alarm
By Kejal Vyas and Maolis Castro | Aug. 18, 2018

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CARACAS, Venezuela—Businesses closed, banks struggled with transactions and people scrambled to find fuel Saturday, signs of panicked and skeptical reactions to government measures aimed at stabilizing a faltering economy.

President Nicolás Maduro said he would raise wages by nearly 6,000% and would devalue the already-embattled currency by 96%, in a televised announcement late Friday.

A former bus driver and union activist, Mr. Maduro said he himself devised the plan. But the response—visible in stores and shops—indicated Venezuelans’ alarm and fear that the measures, instead of shoring up the economy, would destroy what’s left of a once-wealthy nation now mired in hyperinflation. The size of the economy has shrunk by more than half since Mr. Maduro took office in 2013.

Widespread shortages of food, medicine and clean water have pushed 2.3 million Venezuelans to flee to neighboring countries since 2014, according to the United Nations.

Marcos Vizcaino, 56, said he was closing down the auto shop that his father opened here in 1965 because he couldn’t afford the wage hikes. “I can’t take it anymore, I give up,” said Mr. Vizcaino, who added that this business already had been losing money. “I feel bad for my employees, but I can’t keep bleeding out like this.”

The devaluation is the largest in Venezuela’s history, according to research group Sintesis Financiera. Mr. Maduro’s measures will likely push inflation even higher than the 1,000,000% forecast for this year by the International Monetary Fund, said Anabella Abadi, an economist with the Caracas-based consulting firm ODH.

The minimum-wage increase is the fifth this year, to the equivalent of about $30 a month, compared with $1 a month previously. Workers will be paid with a new currency called the sovereign bolivar, which will be rolled out next week and erases five zeros off the existing currency, called the strong bolivar.

“I want the country to recover, and I have the formula,” Mr. Maduro said in the televised address. To help small businesses cope with the transition, he said the government would pay the difference in worker salaries for 90 days. But Mr. Maduro gave no explanation of how the payments would be disbursed, leading business owners like Mr. Vizcaino with little hope for a turnaround.

Mr. Maduro is deeply unpopular and earlier this month was the target of an alleged assassination plot. He has blamed the incident on his political rivals and jailed a prominent opposition lawmaker, prompting the U.S. and countries around Latin America to condemn Venezuela’s increasingly authoritarian and isolated government.

Economists worry that Mr. Maduro’s measures will lead to more currency printing that will fuel inflation further. The government is in default on $6 billion of debt, and export earnings are declining due to falling oil output. Central Bank data shows that monetary liquidity, a measure of the numbers of bolivars in circulation, has surged more than 30-fold in 2018.

“There is nothing, absolutely nothing that will lead to a stabilization phase and the attraction of investments,” said Sintesis Financiera economist Tamara Herrera. “There is going to be a very strong inflationary impact. It seems that they are getting close to extracting the last of what remains of the productive system.”

Adding to the confusion, Mr. Maduro said he would peg the value of the new sovereign bolivar to the petro, an oil-backed cryptocurrency that the government launched earlier this year. The government has released scant details on who, if anyone, is using the petro. The currency has been banned by the U.S. Treasury Department, which called it an effort to scam international investors and skirt Washington’s financial sanctions on Caracas.

Homemaker Marta Ramirez said she ran out on Saturday to spend the money she has in her bank account but saw empty shelves at the few open shops she found.

Cash has all but disappeared, with the government too broke to print enough bank notes to keep up with inflation. To make matters worse, she—like many others—couldn’t get her debit card to work as financial institutions struggled to adjust to Mr. Maduro’s economic plan.

“It makes me want to cry,” the 51-year-old said. “The little money I have will soon be worth nothing.”

In addition to the currency moves, Mr. Maduro has also said he intends to cut gasoline subsidies in order to reduce the smuggling of Venezuelan fuel to neighboring countries, which costs the government billions of dollars each year.

Mr. Maduro hasn’t specified when gasoline prices may start rising. Some of his detractors have started to call his plan a “neoliberal” austerity package that undermines the socialist ideology long espoused by his ruling party.

Caracas cabdriver Daniel Perez, 43, on Saturday rushed to fuel up before the president’s plans come to fruition but found gas stations unwilling to accept the existing bolivar bills.

“We’ve been in line since dawn, and we still haven’t filled a tank of gasoline,” Mr. Perez said. “With this economic disaster, you never know how much it’s going to cost to fill up your tank next time.”

 
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Angry Brazilian border town residents drive out Venezuelan immigrants after local restaurant owner stabbed and beaten
Anthony Boadle | August 18, 2018

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BRASILIA (Reuters) - Angry residents of the Brazilian border town of Pacaraima ran riot and drove out Venezuelan immigrants on Saturday after a local restaurant owner was stabbed and beaten, residents and government officials said.

The demonstrations forced hundreds of Venezuelans to flee back across the frontier on foot and residents set fire to the belongings they left behind and to tires to block the only road crossing between the two countries, video images released by the state of Roraima government showed.

The outburst of anger was sparked by the robbery and severe beating of a resident in his home on Friday night by four Venezuelans, Roraima state security secretary Giuliana Castro said by telephone.

The four Venezuelan suspects stole 23,000 reais ($5,800) from the restaurant owner, identified only as Raimundo. He suffered head injuries and was taken to hospital unconscious but was reported to be out of danger, said Castro, who is also head of the state’s police force.

After crossing back into their country, Venezuelans migrants attacked a group of 30 Brazilians who were shopping across the border and who had to be taken to a shelter, Castro said.

Venezuela’s government expressed concern about reports of attacks on its citizens and a “massive eviction” of Venezuelans, and asked Brazil to guarantee their safety. A foreign ministry statement said the violence was fueled by xenophobia.

Tens of thousands of Venezuelans have poured over the border into Roraima state over the last few years, fleeing economic and political turmoil in their country. The influx has overwhelmed the state’s social services and brought a rise in crime, prostitution and disease, and has sparked incidents of xenophobia, Brazilian government officials say.

A Pacaraima resident who asked to be identified only as Ismael said by telephone that the four Venezuelans allegedly entered the restaurant owner’s home, tied him and his wife up and stabbed and beat the man severely before robbing his house.

“The people here are up in arms. They are burning the belonging of Venezuelans who were camped out here,” Ismael said. He said police were looking for the four men.

“Out, out, out! Go back to Venezuela,” demonstrators shouted at the Venezuelans as they rushed passed the border post carrying what they could, video images distributed by the Roraima government showed.

Brazilian army soldiers stationed at Pacaraima to help maintain order asked Venezuelan immigrants to return across the border for their own safety, Castro said.

Venezuela’s economy has been in steep decline and there are periodic waves of protests against the leftist government of President Nicolas Maduro. Maduro argues that he is the victim of a Washington-led “economic war” designed to sabotage his administration through sanctions and price-gouging.

“The only people responsible for this tragedy are Maduro and his gang,” tweeted Venezuelan opposition politician Ismael Garcia about the flare-up in Brazil.

The Roraima government has declared the immigration influx a social crisis and asked Brazil’s federal government to close the border, which it will not do for humanitarian reasons.

The Brazilian government said late on Saturday that it was sending more troops to Pacaraima to back up border police.

 
I can’t understand how he still has any type of support?!!

Also how he hasn’t got a bullet in his head yet.
 
Damn, shit is getting rough for Venezuelan immigrants in Brazil:

 
Venezuela crisis: Brazil deploys troops after migrant attacks
August 19, 2018



Brazil is sending troops and extra police to the border town of Pacaraima where Venezuelan migrant camps were attacked and set ablaze.

President Michel Temer held an emergency meeting on Sunday as regional tensions rose over the numbers fleeing crisis-hit Venezuela.

Venezuela has asked its neighbour to ensure the safety of its citizens.

In Ecuador, desperate Venezuelans were reported to be crossing the border in defiance of new entry requirements.

Hundreds were stranded on Saturday when Ecuador brought in new rules requiring Venezuelans crossing from Colombia to have valid passports rather than just identity cards.

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Residents of Pacaraima barricaded roads near the camps and burned migrants' belongings


Most of the migrants are heading south to join family members in Peru and Chile.

They are seeking a better life amid a worsening political and economic crisis in Venezuela that has led to soaring inflation and chronic shortages of food and medicines.

What happened on the Brazilian border?

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In Pacaraima on Saturday, several migrant encampments were attacked by angry residents following reports that a local restaurant owner had been badly beaten by Venezuelans.

There has been growing animosity towards the numbers of Venezuelan migrants entering Roraima state in recent months.

Gangs of men carrying stones and sticks set fire to tents and other items belonging to the Venezuelans, and more than 1,000 migrants were said to have fled back across the border.

On the Venezuelan side, there were reports that Brazilian cars had been attacked.

Pacaraima was reported to be quiet on Sunday. Brazil's public security ministry said it was sending a contingent of 60 troops to support police in the area. They are due to arrive on Monday.

Meanwhile, the Venezuelan foreign ministry called on Brazil to give "guarantees to Venezuelan nationals and take measures to safeguard and secure their families and belongings".

What's happened in Ecuador?

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Correspondents said many desperate Venezuelan migrants were defying new rules on Sunday and crossing the border from Colombia into Ecuador.

At the Rumichaca checkpoint near the western town of Ipiales, dozens who had been stopped from crossing on Saturday simply walked across the loosely guarded border, Reuters news agency reported.

"We have no money, we need to move on now and get our lives back," said primary school teacher Mayerly Isaguirre.

Many others were huddled in makeshift camps trying to stay warm in the mountainous climate.

"We are from the Caribbean, we can't handle this cold," said Jorge Luis Torrealba, who had travelled from Venezuela with a group of friends and family members.

Charity workers warned that those crossing illegally were liable to hit by fines when they reached the border with Peru.

"And these people don't have money," said Gustavo Salvador of the Red Cross.

Until Saturday, thousands of Venezuelans had been able to cross into Ecuador from Colombia using only identity cards. The new rules took many by surprise.

Ecuador said on Sunday that children and adolescents could still cross without passports if travelling with their parents.

What have Venezuela's other neighbours said?

With the flow of Venezuelan migrants causing regional tensions, Peru's government has announced that passport requirements for Venezuelans will begin on 25 August.

In February, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos also announced a tightening of border controls, resulting in thousands of Venezuelans rushing to crossing points.

 
Sunday night my friend tells me that he is depressed because his dog died of starvation.

That was a big debbie downer for me, TBH i just cant anymore, im thinking about cutting him off its only a matter of time before he is gone.
 
Sunday night my friend tells me that he is depressed because his dog died of starvation.

That was a big debbie downer for me, TBH i just cant anymore, im thinking about cutting him off its only a matter of time before he is gone.

Very disturbing who knows what is really happening in Venezuela. Its just so ridiculous for this to be allowed to happen in the 21st Century.

Its actually scary for anyone living in 3rd world country to observed this if you are currently experiencing inflation.
 
Very disturbing who knows what is really happening in Venezuela. Its just so ridiculous for this to be allowed to happen in the 21st Century.

Its actually scary for anyone living in 3rd world country to observed this if you are currently experiencing inflation.

I agree that its quite scary.

Thats why despite all the fuckery going on in my country i cant complain, at least we have an independent central bank that hits the brakes of government excess.
 
I agree that its quite scary.

Thats why despite all the fuckery going on in my country i cant complain, at least we have an independent central bank that hits the brakes of government excess.

Good for you I do hope the Philippine Peso is as strong as its Mexican version.

Right now our rate is 53.33 and Dugyot's tax plan caused prices of some comodities to increase already. Some local small businesses in my area have already closed because of it.

And yet people are still complacent thinking this tax plan will still work and the prices get better.

This new Tax plan reduced income taxes and exempted minum wagers but increased Taxes on Fuel including heavy oil. So the cost of production naturally increased
 
Good for you I do hope the Philippine Peso is as strong as its Mexican version.

Right now our rate is 53.33 and Dugyot's tax plan caused prices of some comodities to increase already. Some local small businesses in my area have already closed because of it.

And yet people are still complacent thinking this tax plan will still work and the prices get better.

This new Tax plan reduced income taxes and exempted minum wagers but increased Taxes on Fuel including heavy oil. So the cost of production naturally increased

Raising taxes is a good thing, that means they are willing to implement an unpopular measure to pay for stuff.

The issue is when they do their socialist stuff with borrowed money or a commodity boom. If Venezuela didnt had a drop of oil, rest assured they would be living far better off today.

I also read that Philippines import almost all its fuel, so its normal with rising oil prices.
 
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