Unfortunately, A Bleak Future For Venezuelans.
Yesterday I saw a tweet that I knew was wrong stating that American Airlines had stopped selling tickets in both local currency and dollars, which sort of implied the airline was leaving Venezuela. I knew the tweet was wrong, as that same morning both my travel agent in Caracas and American Airlines in the US had called me to tell me that the airline had opened for sale tickets in US$ until the end of July. I checked in the website and indeed, for the day I was looking for a CCS-MIA flight in July, there was plenty of available flights and tickets, as promised, if you paid in US$. Thus, when I saw the tweet with information that I knew to be wrong I corrected it, mostly because I know the sense of anguish that many people with relatives abroad feel thinking that they may become isolated in Venezuela if the airlines leave.
What I got in return was tweets saying that I was a minority with a credit card in US$, that I worked with the stock market, Cadivi rules and the like and beware about bond prices when American announces that is leaving Venezuela, which had nothing to do with my correction. Later the person apologized, but I think this demonstrates how charged and emotional this topic is.
But it also shows, how somehow people think that the Government is not paying airlines because it does not care, or, as some have suggested, this is all being done on purpose to isolate the country. People also blame the airlines for abusing the system. But the reality is much different, the airlines have been naive in thinking they would be paid eventually. And Venezuelans have yet to face the reality that, much like Greeks three years ago, the time is coming to pay for the errors of the Government of the past few years. The cheap travel, the Cadivi subsidies, all subsidies, have to be paid down the line with expensive travel costs and no subsidies. There is simply no money to pay the airlines.
Or the pharmaceutical companies, or the food companies, or the oil service companies…
Perhaps no headline describes this more clearly than that of the President of the Venezuelan Airline Association (ALAV) saying “The debt with the airlines is more than the operating international reserves of the country”
That simple statement summarizes the problem quite clearly, how can the Government pay its debts, when all of its operating (Not liquid, operating!) international reserves are not enough to pay the debt with the airlines?
Continue reading HERE.