Cyberattack

Yesterday Venezuelans had difficulty withdrawing cash form ATM machines and buying good using credit and debit cards, as most of the system was off-line during the day.

President Maduro claimed that the failure was part of an “attack against the commercial exchange technical platform (…) inscribed in the financial war against Venezuela.”

Maduro said that he has ordered the deployment of a police SEBIN commission to investigate the technical failure. However he is sure this event is part of a wider conspiracy against the Venezuelan economy.

The plot, according to the government, also includes the recent collapse of the local currency in the black market. Economists argue that the drop in the value of the Bolívar against the Dollar (close to 200% in a week) is related to the steep increase in money supply in the last months. But government officials prefer to blame for the collapse the web portal dolartoday, which is the most widely used source for tracking the value of the Bolívar.

The Vice-president of the ruling PSUV and National Assembly deputy, Diosdado Cabello, told the audience of his show on public television: “If you woke up poorer this morning, it is because of dolartoday.” President Maduro has gone further in stablishing the conspiracy links between the web portal and the opposition and has called the opposition coalition MUD, MUDtoday.

  

“They are rubbing their hands and preparing an ambush against the country, but you can’t see them [no aparecen], they stab you in the back and hide,” said Maduro about the conspirators.