The U.S. government is in “full regime change mode” and waging “an economic and political war against Venezuela,” says Mark Weisbrot, economist for the Center for Economic and Policy Research.
Weisbrot also says the idea that Venezuela is a threat to U.S. national security is “ridiculous.”
Despite oil prices having risen to $50 a barrel, Venezuela is undergoing an economic crisis in part due to an inflation spiral.
The country has “to change it’s system of relative prices” and “subsidize the majority of people with low cost food and other essential items directly instead of trying to do it indirectly through the exchange rate. That’s the most basic reform they need,” says Weisbrot.
He also recommends unifying the exchange rate to eliminate the black market for dollars, which is worsening inflation.
Opposition parties have taken initial steps to recall President Nicholas Maduro.
However, from 2002 to 2013, the country saw “an enormous reduction in poverty and improvement in living standards, and that’s why the government still has a base of support,” says Weisbrot.
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