abv

The news came from the banking sector itself: according to Pedro Pacheco, president of the Venezuelan Banking Association (ABV), more than 400 social loans have already been approved for people who lived in La Guaira and other areas hit by the June 24 earthquake doublet. Beyond its symbolic value, the figure serves as a barometer of how Venezuela’s banking sector is trying to adapt in response to an emergency that left thousands of families without homes, jobs, and—perhaps most troublingly—documents.