CARACAS, Monday August 11, 2008 | Update
Barter economy and a number of communal currencies are coexisting
with the Venezuelan bolivar as of August, under a law recently
enacted by President Hugo Chávez.
The use of the communal currencies became official under
the Law for the Promotion and Development of Popular Economy,
which is part of a set of 26 statutory laws enacted by Chávez
last July 31, when an 18-month period granted by the National
Assembly for the ruler to enact statutory decrees expired.
Under the law, several regional productive communities were
allowed to create their own currencies as a "tool that enables
and facilitates the exchange of ideas, goods and services,"
as set forth in Article 26 of the aforementioned law.
The Venezuelan government has promoted since 2007 this type
of economic system, which aims at offering an option to traditional
trade of goods and services by replacing Venezuelan legal
currency for the barter system or by regional monetary "currencies".
07:14 PM. Politics. Venezuelan Attorney General Luisa Ortega Díaz said that she would seek enactment of a law to punish the crimes perpetrated by the mass media, claiming that the existing legal mechanisms provide for administrative sanctions only.