The current president of Uzbekistan is Islam Karimov. He was the old Communist Party Boss and even though Uzbekistan is now a “democracy” he holds all the power, no election is in sight and some things are as corrupt as ever.

Le president d’Uzbekistan, Islam Karimov, faisait parti du vieux Regime communiste. Bien qu’il se dise democratique, il n’y a pas d’elections prevues, toute opposition est banie et la corruption est rampante.

At one guest house we stayed in the owner had to make a “donation” to the presidents upcoming Tennis Tournament to stay in good favor with the local authorities!

Notre hote a Bukhara, nous a revele a son retour de la banque qu’il avait du faire un don monetaire au profit d’un tournoi de Tennis presidentiel sous peine de perdre sa license lui donnant droit d’operer dans le secteur touristique.

Karimov and his cronies manipulate the currency to their profit so there is a thriving black market for dollars that yields 2 to 3 times the “official” rate. The largest bill in circulation is 200 Som, which is worth about 30 cents.

Karimov manipule la monnaie Uzbek a son profit. Ce qui laisse place a un marche noire pour l’echange du dollar americain de 2 a 3 fois la valeure officielle obtenue dans les banques. La note monetaire la plus elevee equivaut a 0.30$.

When we changed $150 dollars into som we were handed a bag filled with over 300 bills!

Lorsque nous avons echange 150 dollars, on s’est fait rendre un sac d’epicerie remplit de Soms(devise uzbek)!