The Venezuelan President Pins His Hopes on a Virtual Currency

Do not let yourselves “be intimidated by the great financial and media powers”, declared Pope Francis in a message to the Latin American political leaders on December 1, 2017. 

Did Nicolas Maduro take the successor of Peter literally? The Venezuelan president has announced, according to L’Osservatore Romano on December 4, 2017, the creation of a digital currency in answer to the financial blockade that has been imposed by the United States since Venezuela became “a socialist dictatorship”, to quote the American administration.

The “Petro”, as the currency is called, will be based on the country’s enormous gold, oil, gas, and diamond reserves. The goal is for Venezuela to acquire “monetary sovereignty” and “make financial transactions and overcome the financial blockade,” explained the Venezuelan head of state.

The South American country could soon default if it does not restructure the country’s extenal debt, estimated to be around 150 billion dollars.

For the Catholic Church, the dramatic situation in Venezuela is more than “an ideological conflict between the right wing and the left wing”, for it is now “a struggle between a government that has become a dictatorship and the entire people”, declared Archbishop Diego Padron, president of the Venezuelan Episcopal Conference, to the press.