Politics Analysis

Venezuela has imposed a range of currency controls to deal with its recession and record-high inflation, but the controls are forcing more of the economy underground and have catalyzed an elaborate money-laundering scheme that is now spiraling out of control and thus threatening the regime's grip on power.

This is the 13th in a series of monographs on the geopolitics of countries influential in world affairs. (With Stratfor maps)

A fire at Venezuela's main thermoelectric plant and the falling water level at the Guri dam are increasing the severity of Venezuela's electricity crisis.