Yeah I agree they are a Narco country and because they keep the armed forces on their side they stay in power. Personally, I see them running into bigger and bigger issues over the coming years because of the huge brain drain that is occurring. I think that is why you have seen them talk about invading their neighbor... they have to distract from the issues at home. 

Cje95

econ

Venezuela Turns to Tether to Skirt US Oil Sanctions: Report

I was just talking about this topic with my husband today, it is totally incongruous.  If you want to evade the last thing you would use would be THETER.  I think they must be up to something, the Venezuelan government seems stupid, but they are not, there is a reason they have been in power for 25 years massacring the country and still no one has been able to stop them, they are a narco government, they have many allies, I believe that That news is just a smokescreen, they know very well that they can transact in private ways, which they surely already do but we are not aware of it.  For years I no longer take this type of news from my country seriously, it is just a distracting circus.