Venezuela security forces on Tuesday clashed with anti-government protesters seeking, in part, to remove justices from the Supreme Court accused of unconstitutionally favoring the ruling party, while supporting lawmakers locked in a bitter dispute with the administration of President Nicolas Maduro and the Supreme Court.
Two weeks ago, Reuters reported that due to "unexplained" reasons, the Venezuela central bank had stopped publishing its M2, or money supply, data. The M2 money supply was up by nearly 180% in mid-February from a year earlier, according to the central bank before it halted the release of the weekly data without explanation in February.
While investors had largely given Venezuela's economic catastrophe the benefit of the doubt for the past two years as crude collapsed and the country's CDS soared to record highs only to normalize subsequently, yesterday bond investors got very nervous for the first time in a while, as the Venezuela 9.25% of 2027 bonds crashed on fears a presidential coup may be imminent after Wednesday's decision by the pro-Maduro supreme court to assume the functions of congress, in effect making Venezuela a Maduro dictatorship.
Venezuela sovereign bonds crashed on Friday as a result of soaring political tensions after the annulment of the country's legislature by its high court on Wednesday, a move that ignited protests, invoked international condemnation and prompted the opposition to call for a military response to what it deemed a "coup."
The leader of Venezuela's coalition of opposition forces and the president of the National Assembly, Julio Borges, said President Nicolas Maduro had staged a coup and called for a military intervention.