Venezuelan authorities launched an investigation earlier
this month into irregularities in the financial sector as the state began to
take over foreign exchange trading. Like their foreign counterparts, Venezuelan
capitalists have been engaging in fraud and complex financial transactions that
have severely weakened the bolívar and hurt the Venezuelan economy.
The Attorney General’s Office has raided 16 brokerage firms.
The probe found that the firms have been using exchange trades to evade
measures enacted to protect workers. So far, 10 brokerage directors have been
arrested.
The brokers had been laundering money, circumventing the set
foreign exchange rate, and engaging in currency speculation. These are all
parasitic ways for the elite to extract wealth without actually producing
anything.
In addition, the brokerage firms have become increasingly
involved in credit default swaps, a practice which helped ignite the current
capitalist crisis.
Unlike the United States, however, the Chávez government is arresting the capitalist
criminals responsible for economic decline, not bailing them out with taxpayer
funds.
