BTW,CALVIN ALUMNUS DAVE SMILDE KNOWS A LOT ABOUT VENEZUELA. I was listening to NPR one day and they did a piece on Venezuela & suddenly they mentioned "Dave Smilde" & I perked up,wondering if it was the Dave Smilde I knew from Grand Rapids. And it turns out it was/is ...he's a year older than me,and he's a professor in Georgia who specializes in Venezuela issues. We attended the same high school & college,& semester-in-Spain. He's a great guy,but a bit too liberal for me. Nonetheless, I have a great amount of respect for him & hope he has some respect for the Christian faith, & hasn't become 100% secularized.
Smilde blogs a lot at
http://venezuelablog.tumblr.com/
This is a CNN ARTICLE, "Venezuela is running out of cash and selling its gold "- Oct. 29, 2015
http://money.cnn.com/2015/10/29/news/economy/venezuela-selling-gold/index.html