Venezuelan president blasts Obama for alleged vengeful acts

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Sunday blasted U.S. President Barack Obama for "vengefully lashing" out at Venezuela's monetary reform.

During his weekly TV address, Maduro accused Obama of attacking Venezuela's monetary reform to leave Venezuelan people "without physical currency and to start a series of events aimed at a coup in the country."

Maduro criticized the U.S. Department of State for seeking to make 100-bolivar notes disappear "along with mercenaries, parties of the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD, opposition coalition) and mafias from Cucuta (Colombia)."

Earlier in December, Venezuela developed a monetary plan to bring in higher-value denominations of currency and removed the 100-bolivar notes, which are the country's largest notes, each worth just around 2 U.S. cents on the black market.

This tactic, according to Maduro, "is needed to hurt mafias, recover Venezuelan currency and achieve economic, financial, monetary and social stability."

Maduro then extended the term for swapping the 100-bolivar notes until Jan. 2, by which time new denominations will be available.

Moreover, Maduro said the border with Colombia and Brazil would remain closed until then to avoid "the repatriation of 100-bolivar notes removed illegally."

source: Xinhua