Skim Two

Quentin Sciulli

Skim two

Nutella on the black market?

The Venezuelan problems continue to escalate. They are an oil rich country but the global price of oil being so low has really hurt the economy and the country’s ability to import products. The inflation is up 180% from December 2015 and the international monetary fund predicts that by the end of the year the inflation will be at an unprecedented 700%. So while the grocery shelves are stocked with food, the people cannot afford the food because it is so expensive. For example, a jar of Nutella is going to cost a citizen of Venezuela about fifteen dollars. And that is on the black market! To put that in perspective, that is about half of the monthly minimum wage in Venezuela. However obviously the people in this country are not worried about Nutella. They are worried about daily items like fruits and vegetables and hygiene items like shampoo. Items are sometimes cheaper at a regular supermarket however they suffer from a scarcity problem. The government has tried to keep prices regulated but with a spiraling inflation rate this task is nearly impossible

Protest, Problems, Poverty, and Passing

More devastating news to come out of Venezuela this week was that two more protestors were shot by the government in the city of Barquisimeto. The local governor has blamed the killings on supporters of the government, and not his direct military one of the protestors was a fourteen year old student. This adds to the body count of protestors, as two more were killed last week. Obviously the protests are about the economy that continues to struggle. However more recent protests have risen because the government has decided to ban one of their staunchest opposition members, named Henrique Capriles, from holding any kind of public office for fifteen years. This is just another sign to people that President Nicolas Maduro is implementing a dictatorship. The president has refused to hold a referendum vote for people to remove him from office. He continues to hold out for socialism and accuses capitalists of conspiring against him

Brazil looking to crack down on corruption

Judge Edson Fachin has made a list of politicians that he believes to be corrupt in the country. The list includes a third of the president’s cabinet. The judge believes that all these people were involved in a bribery scandal. Odebrecht is a big construction company that has admitted to paying about one billion dollars in bribes to these officials. The report was supposed to be released in January but the previous judge that was working on the operation died in a plane crash. The investigation is known as operation car wash. This is important on a variety of levels, especially if indeed one third of the president’s cabinet is involved. If the investigation can prove that illegal finds were used to fund the 2016 election then the results could be revered and the current president could be removed from office.

Articles in order of mentioning them

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-37342801

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-39585293

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-39574355