4 ms·
Chavez was charismatic but not very bright. Maduro is his former drinking buddy who isn't charismatic or bright. Basically most of the farms shut down because
by wmil 9y ago
Chavez was charismatic but not very bright. Maduro is his former drinking buddy who isn't charismatic or bright.
Basically most of the farms shut down because the government mandated food prices below the cost of production. Food was imported by the government instead.
Then the government ran out of money, and Venezuela doesn't have food or farms.
If farmers had held out through the hard times Maduro would have just nationalized their farms to try to fix the food problem. So quitting was really their only option.
- JoeAltmaier 9y agoI believe all that was rooted in the original breaking-up of farms? Large farming corporations were divided and given to workers in small parcels. But they had not the financing, equipment nor training to run their own operation. Also, they were now 'wealthy landowners' and probably not too motivated. Anyway, fast forward and nobody is producing food, or at an uncompetitive cost. As noted, the food imports ruined the balance of trade, the falling oil prices ended their exports, and the country went bankrupt. Has any socialist country survived the death of their cash cow? These experiments seem to work in principle, but only as long as huge amounts of cash are injected from outside.