One U.S. dollar is worth 68,915 Venezuelan bolivar and one US dollar is worth 10,152 World of Warcraft gold gaming pieces.
If you factor in the black market rate of the bolivar the currency’s current value is 636,771.03 per U.S. dollar. By that figure, WoW gold would be worth nearly 62 times as much as Venezuela’s official currency.
Military desertion and exodus
Military officers are joining the exodus of Venezuelans to Colombia and Brazil, fleeing barracks and forcing President Nicolas Maduro’s government to call upon retirees and militia to fill the void.
High desertion rates at bases in Caracas and the countryside are complicating security plans for the presidential election in 13 days, which by law require military custody of electoral materials and machinery at voting centers.
Venezuelan soldiers are fleeing for the same reason citizens are: “Wages are low, the quality of food and clothing isn’t good.”
The level of desertion from the Fuerza Armada Nacional Bolivariana has grown exponentially in the last year, especially among troops at lower ranks. At least 10,000 soldiers have asked to retire, Control Ciudadano’s San Miguel said in March.
High-ranking members of the military are barred from much contact with the lower ranks. Lines of young military men asking for retirement are long, said the first retired officer. The officer tried to chat with one, but officers running the barracks forbade them from talking to each other. The retiree said top officers fear too much conversation will permit officers and enlisted solders to form alliances for a coup.