5 ms·

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

by 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.
  - ScottBurson 10y ago
    Thank you for the inside view. Sorry you're going through that.
  - achow 10y ago
    This is one of the most insightful, coherent and relevant piece of writing that I have recently read on the ground reality in Venezuela. I found this particularly illuminating: 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.
  - rasz_pl 10y ago
    I know reality you are describing very well. This was Poland under Russian occupation in the seventies and eighties: http://bi.gazeta.pl/im/3/5275/z5275403Q,Puste-polki-w-sklepie-miesnym--Warszawa.jpg http://bi.gazeta.pl/im/3/5275/z5275403Q,Puste-polki-w-sklepi... http://bi.gazeta.pl/im/e6/f6/f2/z15922918Q,Tak-wygladaly-sklepy-miesne-pod-koniec-lat-80-.jpg http://bi.gazeta.pl/im/e6/f6/f2/z15922918Q,Tak-wygladaly-skl... http://i.iplsc.com/puste-polki-w-sklepie-miesnym-typowy-widok-z-polski-poczatku/0003LLLFQQKK51QM-C122-F4.jpg http://i.iplsc.com/puste-polki-w-sklepie-miesnym-typowy-wido... http://chrisniedenthal.com/public/upload/works/big/54bd379ccbc01.jpg http://chrisniedenthal.com/public/upload/works/big/54bd379cc... http://d.polskatimes.pl/k/r/11/a2/d3/4dca472ebf5c0_p.jpg http://d.polskatimes.pl/k/r/11/a2/d3/4dca472ebf5c0_p.jpg http://i.wp.pl/a/f/jpeg/26325/kolejka.jpeg http://i.wp.pl/a/f/jpeg/26325/kolejka.jpeg http://i.wp.pl/a/f/png/26326/kolejka_przed_sklepe_73024g_1268323634.png http://i.wp.pl/a/f/png/26326/kolejka_przed_sklepe_73024g_126... http://static.prsa.pl/images/e1379cd8-917c-44e5-acea-6898b64b232e.jpg http://static.prsa.pl/images/e1379cd8-917c-44e5-acea-6898b64... toilet paper queue http://kk24.pl/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/foto-Bogusław-Rogowski-kolejka-po-papier-toaletowy-696x357.jpg http://kk24.pl/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/foto-Bogusław-Rogo... Vinegar was the only product available in most butcher/meat shops. Food, goods and petrol were rationed. https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=pl&u=https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reglamentacja_towar%25C3%25B3w_w_PRL https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=pl&u=https:/... You needed special cards to be allowed to buy, not that shops actually had anything to sell. There were very few options: -Pewex/Baltona, special shops accepting western currency only. Meant for elites and select few allowed to travel abroad (musicians, sailors, pilots, stewards), and to drain currency from black market (prostitution, smuggling). -black market and connections. Empty shop shelves, but there was always something under the counter for the right people. -barter, inflation made native currency meaningless, but you could exchange your petrol cards for some meat etc. -farming family. Every holiday ended with cars full of eggs, meat, milk, honey and spirits travelling back home. Do you have family in rural parts of the country? This is the cheapest option for surviving such nightmare :(
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

by rafaelm 10y ago

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.
- ScottBurson 10y ago
  Thank you for the inside view. Sorry you're going through that.
- achow 10y ago
  This is one of the most insightful, coherent and relevant piece of writing that I have recently read on the ground reality in Venezuela. I found this particularly illuminating: 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.
- rasz_pl 10y ago
  I know reality you are describing very well. This was Poland under Russian occupation in the seventies and eighties: http://bi.gazeta.pl/im/3/5275/z5275403Q,Puste-polki-w-sklepie-miesnym--Warszawa.jpg http://bi.gazeta.pl/im/3/5275/z5275403Q,Puste-polki-w-sklepi... http://bi.gazeta.pl/im/e6/f6/f2/z15922918Q,Tak-wygladaly-sklepy-miesne-pod-koniec-lat-80-.jpg http://bi.gazeta.pl/im/e6/f6/f2/z15922918Q,Tak-wygladaly-skl... http://i.iplsc.com/puste-polki-w-sklepie-miesnym-typowy-widok-z-polski-poczatku/0003LLLFQQKK51QM-C122-F4.jpg http://i.iplsc.com/puste-polki-w-sklepie-miesnym-typowy-wido... http://chrisniedenthal.com/public/upload/works/big/54bd379ccbc01.jpg http://chrisniedenthal.com/public/upload/works/big/54bd379cc... http://d.polskatimes.pl/k/r/11/a2/d3/4dca472ebf5c0_p.jpg http://d.polskatimes.pl/k/r/11/a2/d3/4dca472ebf5c0_p.jpg http://i.wp.pl/a/f/jpeg/26325/kolejka.jpeg http://i.wp.pl/a/f/jpeg/26325/kolejka.jpeg http://i.wp.pl/a/f/png/26326/kolejka_przed_sklepe_73024g_1268323634.png http://i.wp.pl/a/f/png/26326/kolejka_przed_sklepe_73024g_126... http://static.prsa.pl/images/e1379cd8-917c-44e5-acea-6898b64b232e.jpg http://static.prsa.pl/images/e1379cd8-917c-44e5-acea-6898b64... toilet paper queue http://kk24.pl/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/foto-Bogusław-Rogowski-kolejka-po-papier-toaletowy-696x357.jpg http://kk24.pl/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/foto-Bogusław-Rogo... Vinegar was the only product available in most butcher/meat shops. Food, goods and petrol were rationed. https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=pl&u=https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reglamentacja_towar%25C3%25B3w_w_PRL https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=pl&u=https:/... You needed special cards to be allowed to buy, not that shops actually had anything to sell. There were very few options: -Pewex/Baltona, special shops accepting western currency only. Meant for elites and select few allowed to travel abroad (musicians, sailors, pilots, stewards), and to drain currency from black market (prostitution, smuggling). -black market and connections. Empty shop shelves, but there was always something under the counter for the right people. -barter, inflation made native currency meaningless, but you could exchange your petrol cards for some meat etc. -farming family. Every holiday ended with cars full of eggs, meat, milk, honey and spirits travelling back home. Do you have family in rural parts of the country? This is the cheapest option for surviving such nightmare :(

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]