The US Dollar in Venezuela

When my husband Pablo and I arrived in the Caracas International airport many people would walk by us and whisper “Change dollar.” Although we thought is was a little strange that they were acting secretive we didn't think much of it and we decided to change the little USD that we had at an authorized money exchanging booth instead. They gave us a rate of 4.2 Bolivares per dollar. A lady working at the Venezuelan tourism office informed us that we could get 5.2 Bolivares for every dollar if we change it on the streets but she did not explain why they offered a better rate in the streets that at the money exchange booths. When we arrived in Puerto Ordaz we asked my cousin, Father Greg Schaffer, why you can get a better exchange rate on the streets. He explained that the president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, has made it illegal to have US dollars in Venezuela because his opposition uses the US dollar. So for a Venezuelan citizen or company to get or have US dollars they must get a permit, which requires a lot of paperwork, or they can try to illegally buy them from US tourists but with the risk of punishment.
This reminded me of a story that one of my high school spanish teachers had told us about Cuba. She was born in Cuba and when she was very young Castro took over. He, like Chavez. made it illegal to have the US dollar. My teacher’s grandfather owned a vending machine company that operated in the US so he had a lot of US change. He did not want to get caught with this money so he brought all his US money to a field in the middle of no where and his family helped him scatter it around. He was so afraid of the consequences he would face if he got caught with the money that he had to throw it away.
Chavez identifies as a socialist but I find it very alarming that he is using the same extreme tactics as communist leader Fidel Castro, to take power away from his opposition.