King Juan Carlos of Spain told courtiers that he wanted to abdicate in favor of his son because he did not want his heir to “grow old waiting for the throne like [Britain’s] Prince Charles.”

The 76-year-old monarch, who announced last Monday that it was time for “a younger generation to step into the front line,” is said to have been influenced in his decision to abdicate by the situation of the Prince of Wales, who at 65 is the oldest heir to the British throne for 300 years.

From left, King Juan Carlos, Princess Letizia Ortiz, Prince Felipe and his mother Queen Sofia.

It emerged on Sunday that King Juan Carlos had privately told those close to him that he felt it was right to pass the throne on while his heir was still a young man.

“I do not want my son to wither waiting like Prince Charles,” he reportedly told Rafael Spottorno, chief of the royal household, according to a report in Spain’s daily El Mundo newspaper.

King Juan Carlos had been considering the decision since his 75th birthday in January 2013, his chief of staff admitted, and that he had discussed it at length with those in his inner circle.

“He saw, above all, that his son was in his prime and didn’t want to see him like Prince Charles who will be 66 years old in November,” the newspaper quoted Mr Spottorno as saying.

The Zarzuela Palace refused to confirm or deny the statement on Sunday morning. A Clarence House spokesman “declined to comment” on the reports. …

King Juan Carlos, who was widely credited for his leading role in Spain’s smooth transition to democracy on the death of fascist dictator Gen Francisco Franco, saw his popularity plummet in recent years after a series of royal scandals tainted the crown.

Explaining his decision to abdicate, the king said a generational change would open “a new chapter of hope” for a country hit by a deep economic crisis, and insisted that his son had “the maturity, the readiness and the sense of responsibility needed to take on with full guarantees the leadership of the state.”

The Crown Prince Felipe, 46, who married Letizia Ortiz, a divorced television journalist, ten years ago, has increasingly substituted for his ailing father on diplomatic trips and at official events and is regarded as relatively untouched by the family scandals. …

The ceremony to crown King Felipe VI will take place on June 19 following a vote in Spain’s parliament to approve the abdication.

It is expected to be a low-key ceremony held within the Congress building in Madrid to which no foreign heads of state or members of other Royal families have been invited.

VENEZUELA – Venezuela Pays Price for Smuggling

CÚCUTA, Colombia – Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s sliding popularity amid persistent street protests can be partly blamed on the [flourishing] smuggling market on this [Venezuelan/Colombian] border, which shows how Colombia’s unbridled free-market capitalism is eclipsing Venezuela’s socialism and hurting ordinary Venezuelans. …

…Colombian consumers benefit from a massive smuggling trade involving subsidized and price-controlled goods from oil-rich Venezuela – including near-free gasoline, car parts, corn flour and deodorant, all bought cheap in Venezuela and marked up before being sold here.

A vendor sells diapers from Venezuela on the street in Cúcuta, Colombia. “Everything you see on this street is Venezuelan,” says Alejandro Valbuena, a 32-year-old merchant.

With the government’s heavy intervention in the economy, Venezuela now imports three-quarters of what it consumes but loses a third of its goods to illegal cross-border trade, the government estimates. Some economists say Caracas [President Maduro] exaggerates the smuggling problem to mask its own inability to keep supermarkets stocked.

The scarcity has eroded Mr. Maduro’s popularity to a low of 37%, as recent polls show food shortages surpass rampant crime as citizens’ top concern. …

Stifled by inefficient state-owned factories and price controls, domestic production in Venezuela has plummeted. Moreover, the massive weakening of Venezuela’s currency makes its goods cheaper in Colombia. These factors lead to frequent shortages that make life especially trying for Venezuelans along the border, where smugglers leave little behind on store shelves.

That is partly why the protest movement that [began] in February against President Maduro’s administration took root here [in Cucuta] before spreading nationwide. Scattered demonstrations and rallies still take place, including one on Sunday in which members of the Popular Will party spoke out against the government’s arrest of their leader, Leopoldo Lopez, who is accused of instigating violent demonstrations.

Venezuela’s government says it is working with its neighbor to try to crack down on trafficking with an increased military presence on the border. That led smugglers, who see their work as legitimate, to block traffic last week on the bridge connecting the two countries here.

“The problem is that on the Venezuelan side what these smugglers do is illegal but just one kilometer down the road in Colombia, no one thinks they’re doing anything wrong,” said Carlos Chacon, a San Antonio city councilman, referring to Colombian customers.

To make ends meet, many residents turn to running bags of groceries from Venezuela to Cúcuta [Colombia] – an errand that can yield more than a typical workman’s salary. Here they have become known as “bachaqueros,” a reference to South American leaf-cutter ants that can deplete a terrain of resources when working together.

One 26-year-old Venezuelan university student in San Antonio [Venezuela] said he made pocket money during the week by hopping on a public bus with a crate of items like bath sponges and windshield wipers that he sells for a quick buck in Colombia. “Half the people on the bus are carrying a case of something: milk, cooking oil, anything,” he said.

Venezuela threatens to punish smugglers with up to 14 years in prison. But the student said he and other traffickers on the bus pass through Venezuelan National Guard checkpoints with small bribes.

Venezuelan authorities acknowledge that handsome profit makes contraband difficult to contain. …

Fueling the illicit trade is Venezuela’s bolívar currency, which has shed more than 60% of its value against the dollar over the past year on the black market, enabling buyers with stable U.S. dollars and Colombian pesos.

As a major clash point between the two countries’ economic models, many Venezuelans look to Cúcuta [Colombia] to find out how much their bolívares are worth. For years, the exchange rate determined by currency houses in Cúcuta has been posted on underground websites to be used as a reference for dollars on the black market in Venezuela, where strict currency controls make dollars difficult to obtain. …