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Agence France-Presse

With protests rocking his unpopular government, embattled President Nicolas Maduro has pushed back to next month taking Venezuela’s highest denomination bill out of circulation.
Maduro, who spoke after a meeting with administration officials, said he also would keep the borders with Brazil and Colombia closed until January 2.
“We will break the embargo they are trying to impose on us, the persecution and the sabotage,” Maduro pledged Saturday.
He promised a late December announcement about when the new bills would arrive, without indicating from where they would be flown.

The president, whose popularity has plummeted, says the 100-bolivar note had to be killed because “mafias” are hoarding it abroad in what he calls a US-backed plot to destabilise Venezuela.
The bill is worth about 15 US cents at the highest official rate, and until recently accounted for 77 per cent of the cash in circulation in Venezuela.
Late Friday, Maduro blamed opposition politicians for the unrest, claiming that there were pictures and videos of some opposition members of the National Assembly involved in “attempts of vandalism and some acts of violence”.
Maduro has presided over an unravelling of Venezuela’s oil-rich economy as crude prices have plunged. He and predecessor Hugo Chavez have made the economy increasingly state-led.

Now the import-dependent country is desperately short of food, medicine and basic household goods.
Venezuela currently has the world’s highest inflation rate, set to hit 475 per cent this year, according to an IMF forecast.
The government is trying to introduce new bills in denominations up to 200 times higher than the old ones.
But the plan went off the rails when Maduro ordered the 100-bolivar note removed from circulation before the new bills arrived.

In a country with one of the highest rates of violent crime in the world, shoppers must carry round unwieldy wads of bills to pay for their purchases.
Retirees had complained for months that their pensions were paid in unmanageable 50- and 20-bolivar denominations.
Angry protests erupted around the country as the chaotic reform left people without money to buy food or Christmas presents.

In the southern state of Bolivar, a lawmaker and councilman said that four people died in rioting there. Authorities had not yet confirmed the deaths.
A recession driven by plunging prices for Venezuela’s crucial crude oil exports has led to shortages of food and medicine.
Citizens face long queues to buy basic supplies and inflation has soared. Deadly riots and looting have broken out over recent months.

Analysts have warned there is a risk of unrest in Venezuela, which Human Rights Watch says is in the grips of a “humanitarian crisis.” Anti-government protests in 2014 led to clashes that left 43 people dead.
The centre-right opposition blames Maduro’s management for a deep economic crisis.
Polls show that more than half of Venezuelans want the president to stand down.
But the elected leftist leader has vowed to hold onto power at least until his term ends in 2019.


Venezuela delays removing largest currency bill amid riots and looting

People carry bottles of drinks and cans of sardine as they loot a food warehouse during a protest in La Fria, Tachira, Venezuela. Photo: Bloomberg

Youths look into a supermarket through a hole in the wall after it was looted, in Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela December 17, 2016. REUTERS/William Urdaneta EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVE.

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro speaks during a meeting with ministers at Miraflores Palace in Caracas, Venezuela December 17, 2016. Miraflores Palace/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS PICTURE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. EDITORIAL USE ONLY.

People exchange money to buy good in Cucuta, Colombia, before crossing the Francisco de Paula Santander international bridge, linking Urena, in Venezuela and Cucuta, in Colombia, despite the border closing order issued by the Venezuelan government, on December 17, 2016. President Nicolas Maduro had ordered the 100-bolivar unit to be scrapped -to combat what he called a US-backed plot against Venezuela- and scheduled to start releasing new higher-denomination notes. He ordered the Colombia border to be closed for three days, saying this would stop the "international gangs" depositing their hoarded banknotes. In Tachira, the crackdown caused added misery for people who rely on cross-border trade. / AFP PHOTO / George Castellanos

A man carries looted bottles of soft drink during a protest in La Fria, Tachira, Venezuela, on Saturday, Dec. 17, 2016. The largest denomination of Venezuela's crippled currency was pulled from circulation before the new, larger-denomination bills were able to enter it, ATMs and wallets are mostly empty, and Christmas is just a little more than a week away. Photographer: Carlos Becerra/Bloomberg

People carry bottles of drinks as they loot a food warehouse during a protest in La Fria, Tachira, Venezuela, on Saturday, Dec. 17, 2016. The largest denomination of Venezuela's crippled currency was pulled from circulation before the new, larger-denomination bills were able to enter it, ATMs and wallets are mostly empty, and Christmas is just a little more than a week away. Photographer: Carlos Becerra/Bloomberg

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Government’s decision to pull its largest denomination note out of circulation left the country short of cash


Venezuela delays removing largest currency bill amid riots and looting

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Government’s decision to pull its largest denomination note out of circulation left the country short of cash

Government’s decision to pull its largest denomination note out of circulation left the country short of cash