Features: Economy

Venezuela's currency controls including its fixed exchange rate are among the most controversial of Chavez-era policies. Here is a brief, straight-forward run down of some of the pros and cons of the country's currency regime.

» read more

Treasure hunting for milk, confronting local hoarders, overpriced Pringles, toilet paper dilemas, and black market rates that are both economically and politically profitable  for big business... here are some experiences of food and product scarcity on the ground in Venezuela.

» read more

In the lead up to Venezuela’s presidential election earlier this year, the picture painted in most private media was that of a country falling apart. But a brief look at the statistics offers a very different story, one that helps explain why the majority of the Venezuelan people keep re-electing a government that, according to the private media, is driving the country into the ground.

» read more

In local opposition and international mass media inflation is the buzzword, and because of it, Venezuela is clearly a mess, life is hopeless, and the government has got to go. Yet is inflation really the big evil it’s made out to be? How much does it impact on the lives of Venezuelans? How much worse is it, really, under Chavez, and what is the government trying to do about it and the food situation?

» read more

With the nationalization of AgroIsleña, the Venezuelan state has taken an important step in the struggle to bring social and economic factors under greater control of the Venezuelan people and out of the hands of private, profit-driven firms. What is yet to be understood is what ecological factors will be considered as the AgroPatria project moves forward.

» read more

» read more