LATE-STAGE SOCIALISM: Venezuelans recycle worthless bolivar bills into crafts.

Each collector item produced by Richard Segovia fetches between $10 and $15 — a huge markup from the pennies that bolivars retrieve on Venezuela’s black market.

Segovia, 24, arrived two months ago to the Colombian border city of Cucuta with his wife and a cousin fleeing a dead-end job at a warehouse in Venezuela, where he made the equivalent of just $2.50 a month. He came up with the idea to make artwork one night when he and his cousin were back in Caracas staring at a pile of cash.

“We had a lot of cash but nothing to buy, because in Venezuela your money is worth nothing,” he said.

So, he started folding and creasing Venezuela’s colorful bills into trinkets and then larger creations like purses and bags. Each item consists of around 800 to 1,000 mostly 50 and 100-bolivar notes — less than 50 U.S. cents.

Positive spin: Chaveznista Socialism provides artists with the means to pursue their craft!