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Venezuela Sabotages its Currency as Neighbors Block Refugees

<p>Venezuelan President Nicol&aacute&semi;s&nbsp&semi;Maduro on Sunday announced a dramatic economic plan designed to pull the country out of its economic death spiral&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The plan&comma; which is centered on the devaluation and renaming of the state&rsquo&semi;s currency&comma; was unveiled less than two weeks after an assassination attempt on Maduro&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&ldquo&semi;We are going through a re-balancing process&comma;&rdquo&semi; said Maduro on Sunday&period; &ldquo&semi;This does not happen overnight&period;&rdquo&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Starting Monday&comma; the bol&iacute&semi;var will drop more than 90&percnt; in value to become the &&num;8220&semi;sovereign bol&iacute&semi;var&period;&&num;8221&semi; The new currency will be pegged to the state&rsquo&semi;s oil-linked cryptocurrency &lpar;the petro&rpar;&comma; meaning it will fluctuate in line with oil prices&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The plan&comma; which Maduro describes as a &&num;8220&semi;magic formula&comma;&&num;8221&semi; includes a substantial increase in minimum wage&nbsp&semi;designed to offset the exchange rate &&num;8211&semi; which will increase from about 285&comma;000 bol&iacute&semi;vars&nbsp&semi;per USD to 6 million&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The announcement was met with concern from employers&comma; who worry they won&rsquo&semi;t have enough money to sustain the increase in minimum wage&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Mass Exodus&nbsp&semi;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The economic and political chaos in Venezuela has driven roughly 7&percnt; of the population &lpar;2&period;3 million people&rpar; out of the country since 2015&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The migration&nbsp&semi;is &ldquo&semi;one of Latin America&rsquo&semi;s largest mass-population movements in history&comma;&rdquo&semi; says UNHCR spokesman William Spindler&period; &ldquo&semi;Many of the Venezuelans are moving on foot&comma; in an odyssey of days and even weeks in precarious conditions&period;&rdquo&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees &lpar;UNHCR&rpar;&comma; more than 1 million Venezuelans have fled to Colombia during the past 15 months&semi; Ecuador has received about 500&comma;000 since the start of the year &&num;8211&semi; including 30&comma;000 this month&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This Saturday&comma; governments in Ecuador and Peru announced a new rule requiring all Venezuelans seeking entry to show a valid passport at the border&period; The change was a shock for families who started their journey before the measure went into effect&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&ldquo&semi;My family is fragmented&comma; destroyed&period; We&&num;8217&semi;re no longer together&comma;&&num;8221&semi; said a Venezuelan seeking entry into Ecuador&period;&nbsp&semi;&&num;8220&semi;My son is in Peru&comma; my daughter in Chile&comma; I have yet another daughter who&&num;8217&semi;s on her way to Poland&hellip&semi;When will I get them all together again&quest; My wife is in Venezuela&period; The situation is dire&period;&rdquo&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Migrants are also facing increased hostility from residents of other countries&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>On Saturday&comma; a mob of Brazilians set fire to migrant camps in the border town of Roraima after a local store was robbed &&num;8211&semi; allegedly by Venezuelans&period; Brazil dispatched 120 troops to deal with the incident&comma; which sent roughly 1&comma;200 Venezuelans fleeing back over the border&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Venezuelans had been blocked from entering Brazil until early August&comma; when the state&rsquo&semi;s Supreme Court overturned a ruling by a judge from Roraima&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Editor&&num;8217&semi;s note&colon;<&sol;strong> Their is no pretending the Venezuela is still a function country&comma; we are seeing the continued self destruction&period; Thank you socialism&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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