TL;DR: Letters from Venezuela is an exclusive CoinSpice series, an inside look from a reporter on the ground, documenting the South American nation’s last stand among sanctions, political unrest, international condemnation and concern, economic collapse, and the specter of cryptocurrency possibly demonstrating its main use case. Proclaimed opposition leader/interim president Juan Guaidó calls for overtaking Nicolás Maduro. Brutal clashes between opposing sides break out in the nation’s capital, Caracas. The impending cash crisis appears to have arrived, and government censoring of tradition online and social media platforms is ramping up.

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Venezuela Military Uprising Against the Government of Nicolás Maduro

The people of Venezuela opened their eyes to a surprise this Tuesday, 30 April 2019 when the interim president and opposition leader Juan Guaidó has a military uprising against Nicolás Maduro, president of the republic. This action, called coup d’état by some, and a freedom fight for others, had as its objective to occupy the streets of the country and retake power from Maduro, who has usurped such power to assume his present position.

One of the first goals of the Guaidó-led fight was capturing the La Carlota Aerial Base, an important military outpost located in the heart of Caracas. According to several reports from local outlets, this objective could not be reached. However, there have been clashes all around the area, with military personnel loyal to Guaidó facing local armed militia in skirmishes. Civilians have swarmed the capital’s streets, hoping to spark other states to do something similar, asking Maduro step down without bloodshed.

In some cases, civilians have been attacked by forces loyal to Maduro in a brutal way: armed government trucks ran over protesters, for example, which is shown in a video from neighboring news outlet NTN24. The video is very graphic and NSFW, so viewer discretion is advised.

President Donald Trump has also been monitoring the situation from the US, and blamed Cuban troops and foreign militia for some of the “death and destruction” being caused to the people and constitution of Venezuela. He used to opportunity to threaten a levying of more sanctions and a return to a full embargo on Cuba if such foreign influence keeps going, one of the most direct challenges he has ever made regarding this subject.

If Cuban Troops and Militia do not immediately CEASE military and other operations for the purpose of causing death and destruction to the Constitution of Venezuela, a full and complete…. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 30, 2019

….embargo, together with highest-level sanctions, will be placed on the island of Cuba. Hopefully, all Cuban soldiers will promptly and peacefully return to their island! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 30, 2019

The government’s Defense Minister has already stated Guaidó’s charge constituted a failed military coup, with more than 80% of the military personnel returning to their barracks. On state television channel VTV, he declared that “if we have to use arms to defend our sovereignty, we will do it!” However, still, at this time, there are several reports of protests and skirmishes all over the capital and throughout the country. The government has also suspended various civilian flights, causing some to guess current leadership is worried protests could spread.

While the info is scarce, CoinSpice collaborator Oscar Salas confirmed this was indeed true. Salas was returning to the country on a flight from Barcelona to Caracas, and the plane had to return to Europe due to a supposed flight suspension. However, a local reporter claimed only private flights were forbidden.

#CONFIRMADO suspendido todos los vuelos privados en Venezuela. Aunque no aplica a la aviación comercial Air France suspendió al igual que Laser y Avior los vuelos con destino a Miami y Tap Portugal analiza si suspende #30Abr — Elyangelica González (@ElyangelicaNews) April 30, 2019

Despite statements from government officers, it seems the situation is still ongoing, with manifestations being shown in several locations all over the country on accessible social networks.

Venezuelans Facing Cash Crisis

Despite all that is happening in the country, economics is still important, as is evidenced by the cash crisis Venezuelans are facing currently. While being partially corrected with the establishment of a new monetary unit called the sovereign bolivar, inflation is quickly bringing this problem back. The minimum wage of a Venezuelan worker is about 65,000 bolivares or roughly $10 after the new wage raise scheduled for 1 May 2019. The highest cash bill available is the 500 bolivares note, however, which is enough for maybe a bus ride.

This has caused a scarcity of cash on the streets of Venezuela, and long lines in banking institutions where citizens spend more than 2 hours daily just to withdraw 3,000 bolivares (about half a dollar) to cover daily expenses. This has created congestion in the regular banking system, especially when pensioners need to collect their payment, and lines multiply beginning at early morning hours.

The situation has also created a strange economic case where goods have two different prices: lower if paid with cash, and another price if the article is paid with debit or credit cards. Cryptocurrencies and alternative payment methods can help to regularize the payment flow for stores, and also to keep relative value strength due to the massive inflation rate and devaluation the country is facing.

Censorship During the Military Uprising: Twitter, YouTube, WhatsApp, Telegram and Periscope

The events also unleashed a set of internet blocks and censorship against traditional broadcasting media, such as the RCR, a local radio station, and the BBC channel on popular local cable services. Obviously, the regime is pretty interested in keeping domestic happenings away from the eyes of its citizens.

Despite control that the regime has over local media, with local TV stations only broadcasting old comedy shows and cartoons during the coup attempt, there are still some cracks in the government’s grip. Local internet outlet Runrunes informed over their Telegram channel that the BBC TV channel was censored and retired from local cable provider DirecTV, due to its coverage of the whole military uprising. Also, Radio Caracas Radio was shut down by the National Telecom Commission (CONATEL) by order of Jorge Rodriguez, the Telecom Minister of Venezuela. It was one of the most emblematic radio stations in the country’s history, having begun operations in 1930.

There were also censorship attempts detected by Netblocks. Important independent and alternative information sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Periscope were blocked for local users of CANTV Servicios, the biggest internet provider of the country. Interestingly, Tunnelbear and Google Play were also blocked, possibly as an attempt at keeping people from downloading VPN apps to circumvent the ban.

Popular messaging platforms, like WhatsApp and Telegram, suffered temporary outages and became unreachable by 5 pm VET on 30 April 2019. Telegram and WhatsApp groups are important information channels for Venezuelans due to their relative censorship-resistant traits, and so the government was trying to render them useless.

With WhatsApp servers already unstable, Telegram messenger's web interface and website have become fully unreachable for users of #Venezuela's state-run internet provider as of 21:00 UTC (17:00 VET) #30Abr #KeepItOn ⬇️https://t.co/9qTM20Ps62 pic.twitter.com/3dtT1evcBl — NetBlocks.org (@netblocks) April 30, 2019

Netblocks stated that “the extent of blocking in this instance is unprecedented in NetBlocks’ archive of network disruption incidents in Venezuela,” underscoring the really dire state of connectivity in the country. Normal operation of networks was restored before a Maduro speech at 9:00 PM VET.

Confirmed: Access to social media, streaming and messaging services restored across #Venezuela 20 minutes prior to live-streamed #Maduro speech at 1:05 a.m. UTC (9:05 p.m VET) following day of internet disruption ⏱ #30Abrhttps://t.co/9qTM20Ps62 pic.twitter.com/8nYnSobdYv — NetBlocks.org (@netblocks) May 1, 2019

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