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Article: Escape From Caracas.(Special Report)(foreign exchange rate drives more Venezuelan to shop abroad)
- Article from:
- Newsweek International
- Article date:
- April 21, 2008
- Author:
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Byline: Joseph Contreras
High inflation is encouraging Venezuelans to spend their cash on foreign travel--while they still can.
Elvira Sarmiento and her husband checked one suitcase each at Caracas's Maiquetia International Airport when they boarded a flight to Madrid at the end of February. When they returned to Caracas a month later, the couple had seven suitcases between them--one tangible measure of the $15,000 shopping spree they indulged in during their holiday in Spain and Italy. The 38-year-old mother of three has President Hugo Chavez to thank in part for her spendthrift vacation: when his government introduced foreign-exchange controls in 2003 in a bid to ...