New York (Sept. 5, 2024) – On Thursday, Bitcoin Magazine published a video of the Human Rights Foundation’s (HRF) chief strategy officer, Alex Gladstein, interviewing María Corina Machado, leader of Venezuela’s democratic opposition, about the destruction the Chavismo have caused to Venezuela’s monetary system and how many Venezuelans use Bitcoin to escape or find their financial freedom.
In the interview, Machado highlights a devastating fact: Since 2016, Venezuela’s inflation rate has exceeded 8 million percent. As a result of “this financial repression rooted in state-sponsored looting, theft, and unchecked money printing,” she said, the country’s economy has been decimated, despite Venezuela being an oil-rich nation.
Consequently, Venezuelans have fled the country in droves and, as Gladstein noted, many have turned to Bitcoin as a way to skirt authoritarian controls and safeguard their personal wealth. Machado underlined this point and added that Bitcoin has been a “lifeline” that “bypasses government-imposed exchange rates and helps many of our people. It has evolved from a humanitarian tool to a vital means of resistance.”
Gladstein kicked off the interview discussing the July 28 election Nicolás Maduro brazenly stole from the people and the democratic opposition, led by Machado and president-elect Edmundo González Urrutia, who overwhelmingly won by a wide margin: 67 percent of the national vote to 30 percent.
“Yours was a people-powered election,” Gladstein said. “People-powered governance should be the goal of every free nation. And what’s also really important is people-powered money.”
AG: Thank you, Maria, for being here with me. It’s a huge honor to get the opportunity to talk with you. I have immense admiration and respect for you. In Venezuela, your party achieved a historic victory. You were not only able to prove the fraud committed by the government of Nicolas Maduro, who brazenly stole this election.
But you were also able to prove your party’s victory. And you were able to use technology and transparency to get this done. Yours was a people-powered election. People-powered governance should be the goal of every free nation. And what’s also really important is people-powered money.
Over the last 24 years, the Chavez and Maduro regimes have completely destroyed the Venezuelan Bolívar. Despite enormous oil reserves and oil revenues, the currency has been vaporized and people’s purchasing power and wages have been destroyed. The government has tried to paper it over by deleting a zero, adding zeros, and changing the currency. But the outcome is really stark.
Obviously, we have the hemispheric catastrophe and the world’s largest refugee crisis. Now, some Venezuelans have managed to escape this broken system through Bitcoin. For some Venezuelans, Bitcoin has represented freedom money. If it’s used properly, it can’t be censored, confiscated, or devalued by the regime.
Can you tell us a little bit about how the Chavistas have destroyed the Venezuelan economy and currency and how they politicized money and the banking system in Venezuela? And can you also tell us a little bit about Bitcoin and what you think this technology might represent, in that it can allow Venezuelans to be their own bank? And what kind of place this currency might have in a future democratic Venezuela?
MCM: Thank you, Alex, for these super important questions, and thanks to the Human Rights Foundation for raising awareness about our struggle during these very challenging times. The world knows of Chavez and Maduro’s human rights abuses, but less is known about their violations of financial rights, a tragedy unfolding over the last two decades.
The Venezuelan Bolívar, once stable at 3 to 4 units per US dollar, has lost 14 zeros under Chavez and Maduro, turning a functional economy into a catastrophic financial crisis. In 2018, inflation reached an unimaginable 1.7 million percent, with prices doubling every four days.
Since 2016, cumulative inflation has exceeded 8 million percent, driving millions of Venezuelans to flee our country. This financial repression — rooted in state-sponsored looting, theft, and unchecked money printing — happened despite our vast natural resources and despite an oil price boom that peaked at $147 per barrel in July 2008.
Beyond wrecking the currency, the regime weaponized financial systems against its people, freezing accounts, seizing assets, and cutting off services. Our campaign operates right now without banking access, isolated yet resolute in our fight for change. Some Venezuelans found a lifeline in Bitcoin during hyperinflation, using it to protect their wealth and to finance their escape. Today, Bitcoin bypasses government-imposed exchange rates and thus helps many of our people. It has evolved from a humanitarian tool to a vital means of resistance.
We are grateful for the lifeline Bitcoin provides and look forward to embracing it in a new, democratic Venezuela. We envision Bitcoin as part of our national reserves, helping rebuild what the dictatorship stole. Before our gold reserves were plundered, Venezuela had wealthy financial reserves worldwide. We will restore those reserves and include Bitcoin as a key component. The only way to help Venezuela’s poorest is by ensuring property rights, low inflation, equal access to opportunity, and government transparency.
I invite everyone who shares these values to advocate for a peaceful transition of power in Venezuela and help us. We will prevail. Fortunately, unlike bank wires, which the regime usually blocks, Bitcoin donations cannot be seized. Let’s use this technology to bring about the change Venezuela desperately needs. All funds you decide to contribute will support our efforts for a peaceful transition and the recognition of our victory.
What we Venezuelans achieved on July 28 is historic — a citizen movement emerging from a society yearning for freedom, dignity, and justice. A society that after 25 years of tyranny, more than 30 fraudulent elections, and countless human rights violations got united to confront a criminal system. Millions of us organized and voted massively, collecting and digitalizing over 80% of the voting tallies within 24 hours to demonstrate our unquestionable victory. The regime, with all its resources and weapons, could not counter the discipline and intelligence of a society using modern technology to claim its freedom.
What we did during and after this election is truly epic and historic. We are now in a new phase. As everyone expected, Maduro refuses to recognize his defeat and has unleashed brutal repression. But we are determined to assert our sovereignty and transform Venezuela into an open, prosperous, and secure society — something that is only possible in a free nation. Thank you very much!