The Tip of the Iceberg

“The parallel dollar has been imposed by the economic war,” declared President Maduro yesterday as he announced that the Venezuelan government will be blocking access to several web pages that report the price of the dollar in the black market.

Also referring to the recent raids on household electric appliance stores, Maduro said that this is just the “tip of the iceberg,” of the actions he is undertaking in order to win the “economic war” he claims is being waged by the enemies of the Fatherland: “I told the bourgeoisie that I was going to act with all my strength. What I have done in the last hours is just the tip of the iceberg of what I will do to restore the economic balance that Venezuela deservers.”

The Vice-president for the Economic Area and President of PDVSA Rafael Ramírez also affirmed yesterday that the mere existence of the parallel dollar is evidence that the Venezuelan economy is facing an economic war. “[The parallel dollar] is absolutely illegal and we will strike against it and pulverize it. We will collect all those dollars that they are stealing from the Nation trough overpricing and through the deviation of the proper uses of the dollars authorized by CADIVI,” said Ramírez.