“Let Them Come For Me!” Maduro Defiant As Thousands Protest In Venezuela

Some Venezuelans aren’t happy with Nicolas Maduro, and it’s easy to see why.
Inflation in the socialist paradise is projected to run at a mind boggling 720% this year after topping 200% in 2015. Long queues are common at grocery stores, where the country’s beleaguered citizens wait in hopes of grabbing the last of increasingly scarce basic staples like rice and, famously, toilet paper. According to a trade group of drug stores, 90% of medicines are now scarce.
As we documented last month, the acute economic crisis – Venezuela is the worst performing economy in the world – is the result of years of disastrous policies pursued by the socialist government which has pushed out private industry and badly mismanaged the country’s oil wealth. Default is now virtually assured, as 90% of crude revenue needs to be diverted to debt payments. Thanks to rising imports and falling oil sales, the CA deficit has worsened, forcing Caracas to liquidate assets to fund a budget deficit that’s projected to hover near 20% of GDP for the foreseeable future.
The economic malaise has fueled a political crisis. Last month, Maduro used a Supreme Court stacked with allies to push through a decree granting the presidency ‘emergency powers.’ Opposition lawmakers – who, you’re reminded, in December won 99 of 167 seats that were up for grabs in what amounted to the worst defeat in history for Hugo Chavez’s leftist movement – were livid and decided to accelerate plans to remove to the hapless leader.

This post was published at Zero Hedge on 03/13/2016 –.