In on the skim. Chavismo tries to corner the market on las remesas

[GatoGordo]

Remittances: A crucial lifeline for many Venezuelans that the government seeks to control
May 23, 2018 11:32 am

translated from Spanish

The gigantic metal pots in the kitchen of a monotonous café in Bogotá are full of simple dishes like vegetable rice. But Edgar Granadillo's delicate disposition of the dishes he places before the office employees rush to lunch hints at the finer dishes he once served.



The former executive chef of a spa in Venezuela once commanded a team of 65 chefs and made regular appearances on television cooking shows.

Now he works for $ 10 a day, with only one goal: to send money home.

"Salaries there are not enough," said Granadillo, 30, with dark, somber eyes that carefully watched a bubbling pot of fish-head soup. "People need to trust a Venezuelan out of the country, who can send something to survive."

As the number of Venezuelans fleeing the growing economic and humanitarian crisis in their country increases, a burgeoning lifeline is emerging for those in the country: remittances. Surrounding strict foreign exchange controls, dozens of transfer operations, mostly small businesses run by a handful of exiles entirely online, have opened overseas to help migrants convert their dollars and pesos into Venezuelan bolivars arriving in question of minutes to the bank account of a Venezuelan relative.

Remittances are a big business. Independent experts estimate that Venezuelans now send at least $ 1 billion a year to friends and family they have left behind.

That money is critical at a time when Venezuela's minimum wage is now worth less than $ 2 a month, and the government of President Nicolás Maduro, who won a new six-year term on Sunday in a scheduled vote, fears that it will encourage more people to leave. Blaming the operations for feeding the devaluation, and hoping to earn a piece of the pie, Venezuelan officials recently closed several exchange houses and announced that they would open theirs.

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https://www.lapatilla.com/site/2018/05/23/las-remesas-linea-de-vida-crucial-para-muchos-venezolanos-que-el-gobierno-busca-controlar/