Caracas Chronicles

The current problem of food shortages in Venezuela was the subject of a recent report by the Associated Press. One of the persons interviewed calls the experience of finding basic grocery products “an odyssey that never seems to end”.

The Venezuelan Central Bank confirmed that there was a “critical shortage” of at least six food products in December 2012.

But for other parts of the Chavernment, shortages are only a “sensation”. Like the lack of security.

For them, the blame falls on hoarders and speculators and they’re fighting back thanks to a new plan. The Food Producers Association CAVIDEA rejected such claims and explained that multiple controls and regulations in the food distribution chain “…makes hoarding and speculating by any company impossible”.

But the head of the Consumer Protection Agency (INDEPABIS) has put some guilt in the sorry-ass consumers she’s supposed to defend, because they’re focused in finding certain brands of products. Esto es lo que hay has now evolved from a phrase into public policy.

She was probably hinting to the Harina P.A.N. corn flour brand, a Venezuelan symbol and the most wanted product in the streets today: People wait for hours all across the land to get some of it and the arepera business is facing tough times because of the shortage. It has even become an Internet meme in the last few days.

But to contain the problem Nicolás Maduro will have some help of his friends, like Argentinean Planning Minister Julio DeVido (Cristina’s middleman for all Venezuelan-related businesses) who stopped in Caracas and promised “…all the necessary food” in exchange for “energetic security”. Venezuelan food sovereignty? There is no such thing…

But whatever comes from abroad, it still has to go through Puerto Cabello first.