Venezuelans wanting to leave the country will soon have to buy passports with a cryptocurrency that may not exist.
While the petro, Venezuela's oil-backed cryptocurrency announced in February, was billed as a tool to facilitate the economic recovery of the nation, a recent government decree indicates, instead, it may become an instrument to prevent Venezuelan citizens from emigrating. Vice President Delcy Rodriguez announced[1] Friday that starting next month, Venezuelans will only be able to purchase passports using the petro.
The Maduro administration now claims the currency will be available for purchase on November 5, but since the cryptocurrency was first announced[2] eight months ago, the country's economic problems have continued. During this time of economic crisis, record numbers of Venezuelans have left the country. In his speech[3] last week opening the UN Human Rights Commission's latest session, commissioner Filippo Grandi claimed, "Some 5,000 people are now leaving Venezuela daily – the largest population movement in Latin America's recent history."
The numbers are particularly striking when the difficulty of obtaining a passport is considered. Some have reported having to wait in line for days, and that civil service members are demanding bribes, sometimes in excess of the equivalent of $1,000 USD.
According to the commissioner, there are currently more than 2.6 million Venezuelans outside the country, and "a non-political and humanitarian approach is essential to help States receiving them in growing numbers." Because of the scale of the exodus of and the difficulty of obtaining travel documents, some neighboring countries have agreed to accept migrants who don't have up-to-date papers. Some of those same countries originally moved to restrict migrants from Venezuela.
It's against that backdrop that the possibility of obtaining a Venezuelan passport just became even more difficult.
According
