VENEZUELA IS CENSORING THE INTERNET TO CONCEAL FREE FLOW OF FINANCIAL INFORMATION

The present government of Venezuela, in a futile effort to hide reporting of the country's massive economic problems, has been censoring the Internet, by ordering the country's Internet Service Providers to deny access to websites that quote currency exchange rates, and economic information. This means that Internet information searches, within Venezuela, for due diligence purposes, are basically useless, as compliance officers have no way of knowing whether their government has blocked access to critical negative information that is necessary to accurately assess risk levels of their customer. This, in essence, means that Venezuela has now joined China as a country where the Internet cannot be trusted as an information resource.

There's more; the desperate Venezuelan Government even went after a site that allows users to construct a "shortened" URL for a specific web address. Such tiny URLs are often posted on social network websites, to widely and efficiently disseminate important information on a global basis.

The government's position: that websites that show such negative information are waging "economic war" against the country. The unofficial rate of exchange between the US Dollar and the Bolivar has skyrocketed to over ten times the official rate, as the country moves closer to and closer to economic meltdown.

Should you recommend that no new business venture, or major extension of credit in any form, be observed regarding Venezuela ? If you cannot accurately vet the new client, you cannot accept him, as your Customer Identification Program cannot trust what information is available. Internet censorship, no matter how specific it is, since it covers economic data, operates as a blanket disqualifier for Venezuela. You should not approve any new business exposure there, unless you want to assume the risk that you might later sustain a total loss.