The short version? Corruption at the highest levels on down. If I can get Rog in here, he could tell you much more. When he started going down there to work, in 1992 or so the exchange rate was a reasonable level of maybe 80Bs to the dollar. Within a year or so it was in the thousands to each dollar.

It was one of the most endearing, yet frustrating places to do business, with no one in any kind of rush to get anything done. Rog left part of his heart there. It is a completely different mindset. We found, and our partner who has lived down there forever and married in it:-) confirmed it, the ones who had money all had it in accounts in the States, all of their kids went to college up here, etc. i.e. they took it from their country, but didn't invest it back into their own country, just their own families. We lost $20,000 on a signed contract with one of the governors who was a prime example of this. Could charm the pants off ya while taking everythign you had!

Another example, he was staying in a "posh" condo which someone broke into, through a skylight. They took the Italian chandelier which was worth thousands, his passport, plane ticket, and his laptop. when they went to the police station to report it, the cops were getting ready to go out on a drug raid. As Rog listened, the cops were arguing over who got to put the 5 bullets they had between them, into whose gun! I kid you not.

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