CARACAS, Venezuela–President Nicolas Maduro's government is slashing by more than half the amount of US dollars Venezuelans travelling to Florida can buy and take with them under decade-old currency controls.Venezuelans will be allowed to buy a maximum of US$700 annually for trips just to Florida. That compares with the US$2,500 a year already allowed for trips to all other US states.
The restrictions published Friday in the Official Gazette follow a partial devaluation of the bolivar that has made it costlier for Venezuelans to travel abroad and which the government hopes will help safeguard a dwindling local dollar supply.Venezuelans have been flocking to south Florida and other easily-accessed international destinations to shuttle abroad as much hard currency as they can under the rigid foreign currency exchange system.
AP