Venezuela
is abandoning the US dollar, with all future transactions on the
Venezuelan exchange market to be made in euro, Tareck El Aissami, the
country's Vice President for Economy, announced.
The
sanctions, recently introduced by Washington against Caracas, “block
the possibility of continuing to trade using the US dollar on the
Venezuelan exchange market," El Aissami said, adding that
the American restrictions were “illegal and against
international law.”
The
American “financial blockade” of Venezuela affects both
the country’s public and private sectors, including pharmacy and
agriculture, and shows “just how far the imperialism can go in
its madness,” the vice president said.
Venezuela’s
floating exchange rate system, Dicom, “will be operating in
euro, yuan or any other convertible currency and will allow the
foreign exchange market to use any other convertible currency,"
El Aissami said.
The vice
president added that all private banks in Venezuela are obliged to
participate in the Dicom bidding system.
The
government is going to sell 2 billion euros between November and
December to allow the public to purchase the European currency “at
a real, non-speculative rate,” he said.
Washington
isn’t hiding its desire to see Venezuela’s socialist President,
Nicolas Maduro, whom it’s accusing of a crackdown on the country’s
opposition, removed from power. Trump administration even spoke of
the possibility of the so-called “humanitarian intervention”
into the country.
Last
year, the US imposed sanctions prohibiting trading new debt and
equity issued by the Venezuelan government and state oil company,
PDVSA. The Department of Treasury also introduced several rounds of
restrictions againt Venezuelan top government officials. Maduro was
among those blacklisted and called it “an honor.”
The US
pressure has contributed to the severe social and economic crisis in
Venezuela in recent years as it was hit by hyperinflation, the
devaluation of the national currency and a shortage of basic
necessities.
The
harsh situation forced more than 2.3 million to people leave the
country this summer in search of better life in Colombia, Ecuador,
Peru and Brazil, according to the UN.
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