Guillermo Esteves

A bit of context

As you may or may not know, here in Venezuela we have some pretty severe restrictions to acquire and use foreign currency. Specifically, Providence № 093 (PDF link, in spanish), titled Providence which establishes the requisites, controls and procedures for the acquisition of currency destined for offshore payments and published on December 30th 2008, includes the following articles:

Article 10. The Commission of Currency Administration (CADIVI) may authorize up to a maximum amount of two thousand five hundred United States dollars (US$ 2,500) or the equivalent in other currency per year, i.e., the period between January 1 and December 31, to each user, for credit card payments for goods and services, made during international travel.

Article 12. The Commission of Currency Administration (CADIVI) may authorize up to a maximum amount of four hundred United States dollars (US$ 400) or the equivalent in other currency per year, i.e., the period between January 1 and December 31, to each user, for credit card payments for goods and services, made to international suppliers from the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

Article 19. For credit cards enabled for the use defined in Article 10 of this Providence, the user may make use of two hundred and fifty United States dollars (US$ 250) per month, deductible from the amount established in the aforementioned article, for foreign currency cash withdrawals, which shall only be obtained through Automated Teller Machines located in foreign countries.

And,

Article 23. Without prejudice to the amounts referred to in the previous chapter, the Commission of Currency Administration (CADIVI) may authorize the delivery in cash or traveller checks, once per calendar year, i.e. the period between January 1 and December 31, of up to four hundred euros (€400) to users with destination to the countries specified in the officially published listing in the CADIVI website, or up to five hundred United States dollars (US$ 500) for other destinations.

What does this mean?

1. I can only spend online $400 per year. That’s all I’m allowed to spend on software, books, hosting, domain names and anything else I can only get online, in a whole year. When my $400 are over, that’s it, I’m SOL for the rest of the year.
2. If I travel, I can only spend $2,500 per year, of which I can only withdraw $250 per month from an ATM; and I can only buy $500 in cash per year. If you manage to spend about $150 per day while traveling, that’s good for spending just about 20 days per year out of the country. When those $3,000 are over, so is my right to travel.

At any point the government might audit me for no reason, and I would have to go to CADIVI with all my invoices and receipts, and not only account for every cent I spent, but justify how I spent them. If at any point they decide I didn’t make appropriate use my money (i.e. in a way that’s in accordance to their socialist ideals), they can simply cut me off indefinitely. This happens to over 60,000 people every year, and very few manage to successfully defend themselves.

In short, I’m not free to spend my own hard-earned money however I choose.

How you can help

Simple. Just shop at my store, where I have a collection of stuff that I either own and recommend, or that I would buy for myself if I could afford to. I’ll get a small commission (between 4% and 8%) for everything you buy, which helps me stretch the limits imposed by the venezuelan government. It’s powered by Amazon, so it’s secure and very easy to use.

Also, if you need to buy some other stuff from Amazon, or get Skype credit, or register a domain name at GoDaddy, just use the banners below, shop as you normally would, and I’ll get a small referral fee for anything you buy during your visit. If you have any comments or questions, just shoot me an email. Thanks in advance.