Archives for the 'venezuela' tag
Fussin’ Over Hugo Chavez and His Plans to Starve His People
Venezuelan tyrant Hugo Chavez, after having shuttered and expropriated a private grocer, last week launched a socialist grocery chain in its stead. From the pro-Chavez voices at Venezuela Analysis:
Over the weekend Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez inaugurated some of the new government run hypermarkets which are taking the place of the recently nationalised Exito hypermarket chain, announced the possibility of buying 80% of another, related, supermarket chain, ordered Venezuelan food company Polar to move its storage buildings out of Caracas, and announced a new commerce minister.
On Saturday president Chavez inaugurated one “Bicentenary” hypermarket, or large supermarket, as it opened its doors in Barquisimeto, Lara state. The new hypermarket is one of six new ones around the country…
In mid January this year the government expropriated the Exito hypermarket chain, due to selling out of date goods and their speculation and price changes following the devaluation of the bolivar. The government then incorporated the stores into the Corporation of Socialist Markets (COMERSO), a publicly owned network of subsidised supermarkets and food stores.
At the inauguration, Chavez said that products previously obtained by the old Exito hypermarket, “when speculation reigned in that shop”, could now be sold for up to five times less, for “fair prices”….
“The oligarchy tried to create a scandal over the expropriation of this hypermarket…but the real outrage is what they were committing against their workers and the people. Further, they tried to create a fuss at the world level, that didn’t come to anything,” Chavez said.
More here.
OK. Um, Hugo. Fuss. Fuss right here. Lots of fuss. Fuss!!!!
The new chain is merely part of Chavez’s larger nationalization scheme, one that has seen him steal private businesses from private owners and then drive them into the ground with his especially inept brand of central planning. This isn’t the only grocer that will fall, either. Chavez is currently planning to expropriate a French chain, though he notes that “expropriation will be a friendly agreement.” (Perhaps Chavez will order the French to eat cheese and smile while he takes their shop, for which Chavez will naturally set the purchase price.)
While the oil-rich nation is beset with a crippling energy crisis–largely due to Chavez’s nationalization of the energy sector–that has sapped the country of electricity, Chavez sticks his tongue out at the populace by playing beisbol under the lights while regular Venezuelans sit in the dark under rolling blackouts, and hires a Cuban “expert” to fix the energy crisis (which is about as sensible as hiring an egg to guard the henhouse).
As with most of what Chavez does, this situation would be funny were it not so tragironic. I still remember seeing the limited choices and almost-bare shelves of Moscow’s grocers in 1987. Sure, they had good prices. But socialism didn’t produce food, so the low price of a loaf of bread–while important–was more than countered by the fact that said loaf of bread didn’t actually exist. What this said to me was more than anything any critic of socialism or communism could ever put into words, and has stuck with me since.
The only solace I take is that Chavez’s grip on power seems more tenuous than it has been since he was ousted several years ago in a short-lived coup. And then there’s this theory: Fuck with people’s livelihood and chances are you’ll eventually get burnt. Fuck with people’s food and chances are you’re not long for this world.
More from Crispy on Chavez’s food follies here.
Venezuelan Food Policy is to Whine About Shortages it Creates
It’s difficult being a food blogger these days without becoming a food crisis blogger, frankly. I’m doing my best to avoid that. Still, the burgeoning food problems here and abroad are worth pointing out from time to time. And I think this comparative note illustrates how free societies handle rising food prices compared with how the same problems have such greater impact less free and unfree societies:
“This food crisis is the biggest demonstration of the historic failure of the capitalist model,” Chavez told Bolivian President Evo Morales, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage during a summit in Caracas.
[...]
Venezuela has struggled with sporadic shortages that often make it difficult to find staples such as milk, sugar and beef. Chavez has blamed local businesses, saying they hoard products. But critics blame government-imposed price controls, which they say make it difficult for some businesses to turn a profit.
Venezuela continues to import most of the food it consumes despite a nationwide agrarian reform initiative launched by Chavez more than six years ago.
Communist Cuba also imports most of its food — much of it coming from the United States.
So much for the “historic failure of the capitalist model,” eh?
And so while I can mock a place like California–which claims to be the Land of Wine and Food at precisely the time when various levels of government in the state seem to be doing their best to outlaw both food and alcohol–I’m also damn happy I live in a country that generally recognizes my right to grow, buy, and sell all sorts of good food. Not that things here don’t need fixing.
