6 ms·

There's another possibility which wasn't mentioned in the article: Maybe the government is quite happy with the food shortages. They have used control of the f

There's another possibility which wasn't mentioned in the article: Maybe the government is quite happy with the food shortages. They have used control of the food supply to reward their supporters and to punish their opponents; this gives them tremendous power, and why should they give up that power just for the sake of a few million starving citizens?

gohrt 10y ago
Who are the supporters who are getting food, and opponent who are not? The starving public aren't meaningfully pro or anti any faction in government, they are civilians trying to scratch by.
- homero 10y ago
  The political parties. Imagine if registered democrats got food and republicans did not and changing is not allowed https://youtu.be/5SeVv277d0I https://youtu.be/5SeVv277d0I
  - cmdrfred 10y ago
    I don't know why you are getting downvoted, that seems to be exactly the case according to that video.
rmsaksida 10y ago
This is a government that hired militia to shoot teenagers in student protests [1]. While I don't think the food shortages were intentional, there's no doubt they are an useful tool to control the population. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/14/venezuela-violent-clashes-chavistas-opposition https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/14/venezuela-viol...
- paulmd 10y ago
  This is nonsense. All things equal, they would certainly prefer a population that isn't starving to the point of revolution. That's a really fantastic way to end up with your head on a pike. Venezuela's leaders are certainly putting their personal fortunes and their ideology ahead of the good of the people, and their economy/currency has crashed as a result. But that's quite different from twirling their moustaches as they deliberately set out to starve an entire population as a primary/intended outcome.
rafaelm 10y ago
Of course the food shortages affect everyone, but cperciva is right, the government is handing out bags with food in the poorest sectors of the population. When these people are faced with the food shortage, and then they receive a handout from the government, they are being controlled and manipulated. The government has stated before that these handouts (called CLAPS) are not for the middle class (which has been opposing the government), only for the lower classes. Of course, they claim that the middle class can afford food and that they are defending the poor. Guess what? The rapidly shrinking middle class is also suffering from the huge lines which start as early as 6pm the day before outside the supermarkets to buy a bit of food. Those of us that cannot go to the lines (because we need to work to actually afford food) need to buy in the black market (called "bachaqueros", almost always someone with govt connections) at 10x the regular prices. We have the exact same situation with medicine. Patients are dying in hospitals because there's no medicine. Something as simple as Acetaminophen is incredibly hard to find. I have a newborn daughter and she was supposed to get her 2 month vaccinations and I cannot find them anywhere. The situation here is just incredibly difficult.
- Pyxl101 10y ago
  I'm sorry to hear that. What has the experience been like for you to buy food? Are you stuck in the lines as well? How do restaurants obtain raw ingredients with which to cook?
  - rafaelm 10y ago
    Well, I've basically just been eating what I can find the easiest. I don't really go to the lines. I cannot afford to waste a whole day in a line where I don't even know what they are going to hand out or if I'm even going to be able to buy something. I just came back from a friends place and he told me he almost got stuck in a dangerous looting situation because people got pissed because they've been in line for 10 hours and the food ran out. Plus the National Guard and the military are getting paid by black market gangs to let them cut in line and people notice that. For example there have been long lines in every bakery to buy french bread, which is very common to eat here. I just don't eat it. Same thing with arepas, which is one of our main dishes. Since you can't get the flour (called Harina Pan) without waiting over 12 hours in line I just don't eat it. I've got some I bought from one of the black market guys some time ago but we are running out soon. More and more stuff is getting more scarce. Rice disappeared some time ago, milk shows up every now and then. The food that you can get is extremely expensive. For example, ketchup had been missing for some time now. Suddenly it's everywhere. It used to cost around Bs.200 and now it costs Bs. 1500. I wouldn't mind going without certain goods, but now with a baby I'm constantly worried. Diapers and formula are almost non-existent. We stocked up last year on diapers when they could still be found and the baby is doing OK right now because my wife managed to breastfeed exclusively. But not everyone is so lucky. I don't really know how restaurants manage, I've got a friend that has a small fast food place and I know he pays some guys from a bakery for bread, and meat is already expensive so you can get that pretty easily. But I know a hotel nearby that had to remove arepas from the breakfast menu (which was unthinkable here) because they cannot find the flour and I guess they don't want to pay black market rates. This is the kind of thing that happens when you have a currency exchange control and price controls. Stuff gets locked in an artificial price for too long and the producers just give up. The government tried to regulate the price of eggs. Next day, you could not find a single egg anywhere. The flour used to make arepas was regulated at an absurd price, something like Bs.30. Not even the packaging costs that. One common misconception though, is that we cannot find any food. The basic things like rice, flour, bread, milk, etc are what's hard to find. If you've got the money and you want to go to a restaurant and get a lobster you can. But the basic stuff we used to eat every day for a reasonable price cannot be bought without going to the lines or paying black market prices. Medicines are hard to find for everyone. Recently there was quite a commotion on the social networks because some dumbass from Europe came here to make a video for some pro-govt guys and said everything was peachy because he went to the liquor stores and found champagne, went to a gourmet market and saw foie gras, lobster and jamon serrano. But he forgot to mention he probably could not find a square of toilet paper to wipe his ass :) Sorry for the huge wall of text and rambling. It's really hard to put my thoughts in order when I try to explain this stuff, especially in a foreign language.
gozur88 10y ago
Because desperate people tend to do desperate things like hanging government officials from lamp posts. I agree governments like to capitalize on uncertainty, but Venezuela is way, way past the point where it works in the government's favor. If this goes on for much longer they're going to have a bona fide revolution.

gohrt 10y ago

Who are the supporters who are getting food, and opponent who are not? The starving public aren't meaningfully pro or anti any faction in government, they are civilians trying to scratch by.

homero 10y ago
The political parties. Imagine if registered democrats got food and republicans did not and changing is not allowed https://youtu.be/5SeVv277d0I https://youtu.be/5SeVv277d0I
- cmdrfred 10y ago
  I don't know why you are getting downvoted, that seems to be exactly the case according to that video.

rmsaksida 10y ago

This is a government that hired militia to shoot teenagers in student protests [1]. While I don't think the food shortages were intentional, there's no doubt they are an useful tool to control the population. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/14/venezuela-violent-clashes-chavistas-opposition https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/14/venezuela-viol...

paulmd 10y ago
This is nonsense. All things equal, they would certainly prefer a population that isn't starving to the point of revolution. That's a really fantastic way to end up with your head on a pike. Venezuela's leaders are certainly putting their personal fortunes and their ideology ahead of the good of the people, and their economy/currency has crashed as a result. But that's quite different from twirling their moustaches as they deliberately set out to starve an entire population as a primary/intended outcome.

rafaelm 10y ago

Of course the food shortages affect everyone, but cperciva is right, the government is handing out bags with food in the poorest sectors of the population. When these people are faced with the food shortage, and then they receive a handout from the government, they are being controlled and manipulated. The government has stated before that these handouts (called CLAPS) are not for the middle class (which has been opposing the government), only for the lower classes. Of course, they claim that the middle class can afford food and that they are defending the poor. Guess what? The rapidly shrinking middle class is also suffering from the huge lines which start as early as 6pm the day before outside the supermarkets to buy a bit of food. Those of us that cannot go to the lines (because we need to work to actually afford food) need to buy in the black market (called "bachaqueros", almost always someone with govt connections) at 10x the regular prices. We have the exact same situation with medicine. Patients are dying in hospitals because there's no medicine. Something as simple as Acetaminophen is incredibly hard to find. I have a newborn daughter and she was supposed to get her 2 month vaccinations and I cannot find them anywhere. The situation here is just incredibly difficult.

Pyxl101 10y ago
I'm sorry to hear that. What has the experience been like for you to buy food? Are you stuck in the lines as well? How do restaurants obtain raw ingredients with which to cook?
- rafaelm 10y ago
  Well, I've basically just been eating what I can find the easiest. I don't really go to the lines. I cannot afford to waste a whole day in a line where I don't even know what they are going to hand out or if I'm even going to be able to buy something. I just came back from a friends place and he told me he almost got stuck in a dangerous looting situation because people got pissed because they've been in line for 10 hours and the food ran out. Plus the National Guard and the military are getting paid by black market gangs to let them cut in line and people notice that. For example there have been long lines in every bakery to buy french bread, which is very common to eat here. I just don't eat it. Same thing with arepas, which is one of our main dishes. Since you can't get the flour (called Harina Pan) without waiting over 12 hours in line I just don't eat it. I've got some I bought from one of the black market guys some time ago but we are running out soon. More and more stuff is getting more scarce. Rice disappeared some time ago, milk shows up every now and then. The food that you can get is extremely expensive. For example, ketchup had been missing for some time now. Suddenly it's everywhere. It used to cost around Bs.200 and now it costs Bs. 1500. I wouldn't mind going without certain goods, but now with a baby I'm constantly worried. Diapers and formula are almost non-existent. We stocked up last year on diapers when they could still be found and the baby is doing OK right now because my wife managed to breastfeed exclusively. But not everyone is so lucky. I don't really know how restaurants manage, I've got a friend that has a small fast food place and I know he pays some guys from a bakery for bread, and meat is already expensive so you can get that pretty easily. But I know a hotel nearby that had to remove arepas from the breakfast menu (which was unthinkable here) because they cannot find the flour and I guess they don't want to pay black market rates. This is the kind of thing that happens when you have a currency exchange control and price controls. Stuff gets locked in an artificial price for too long and the producers just give up. The government tried to regulate the price of eggs. Next day, you could not find a single egg anywhere. The flour used to make arepas was regulated at an absurd price, something like Bs.30. Not even the packaging costs that. One common misconception though, is that we cannot find any food. The basic things like rice, flour, bread, milk, etc are what's hard to find. If you've got the money and you want to go to a restaurant and get a lobster you can. But the basic stuff we used to eat every day for a reasonable price cannot be bought without going to the lines or paying black market prices. Medicines are hard to find for everyone. Recently there was quite a commotion on the social networks because some dumbass from Europe came here to make a video for some pro-govt guys and said everything was peachy because he went to the liquor stores and found champagne, went to a gourmet market and saw foie gras, lobster and jamon serrano. But he forgot to mention he probably could not find a square of toilet paper to wipe his ass :) Sorry for the huge wall of text and rambling. It's really hard to put my thoughts in order when I try to explain this stuff, especially in a foreign language.

gozur88 10y ago

Because desperate people tend to do desperate things like hanging government officials from lamp posts. I agree governments like to capitalize on uncertainty, but Venezuela is way, way past the point where it works in the government's favor. If this goes on for much longer they're going to have a bona fide revolution.