“I Haven’t Eaten Meat In 2 Months” – Venezuelan Oil Workers Are Collapsing From Hunger On The Job

This report was originally published by Tyler Durden at Zero Hedge

Those who are unfamiliar with Venezuela’s unprecedented economic collapse might be surprised to learn that the country’s oil production has only slowed, even as the price of a barrel of crude has risen in most international markets.

Unsurprisingly (it’s Venezuela), there’s a macabre explanation for this phenomenon: The workers at PDVSA – Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, which once showered Venezuelans with oil wealth – are literally collapsing due to hunger and exhaustion as workers defy their government handlers and flee their jobs in their desperation as the value of their pay has been completely erased.

Bloomberg spoke with several workers in Venezuela’s oil industry about the harsh conditions they face on a daily basis.

Of course, oil workers aren’t the only ones suffering: The situation in Venezuela is getting so dire that ordinary Venezuelans are losing tons of body weight because of the food shortages. Many can no longer afford to buy meat.

One worker told Bloomberg about how his weekly salary barely pays for the corn flour he mixes with water and drinks every morning.

At 6:40 a.m., Pablo Ruiz squats at the gate of a decaying refinery in Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela, steeling himself for eight Sisyphean hours of brushing anti-rust paint onto pipes under a burning sun. For breakfast, the 55-year-old drank corn-flour water.

Ruiz’s weekly salary of 110,000 bolivares — about 50 cents at the black-market exchange rate — buys him less than a kilo of corn meal or rice. His only protein comes from 170 grams of canned tuna included in a food box the government provides to low-income families. It shows up every 45 days or so.

“I haven’t eaten meat for two months,” he said. “The last time I did, I spent my whole week’s salary on a chicken meal.”

Hunger is hastening the ruin of Venezuelan’s oil industry as workers grow too weak and hungry for heavy labor. With children dying of malnutrition and adults sifting garbage for table scraps, food has become more important than employment, and thousands are walking off the job. Absenteeism and mass resignations mean few are left to produce the oil that keeps the tattered economy functioning.

Researchers at three Venezuelan Universities reported losing on average 11 kilograms (24 lbs) in body weight last year and almost 90% now live in poverty, according to a new university study on the impact of a devastating economic crisis and food shortages. That annual survey has become a key barometer of the country’s economic stress since the government stopped releasing reliable economic data, as Reuters reports.

Per Reuters, over 60% of Venezuelans surveyed said that during the previous three months they had woken up hungry because they did not have enough money to buy food. About a quarter of the population was eating two or less meals a day.

After winning the presidency in 1999, leftist President Hugo Chavez was proud of improving Venezuela’s social indicators as the country’s economy was bolstered by oil-fueled welfare policies.

But his successor President Nicolas Maduro, who has ruled since 2013, has allowed corruption to flourish. And his political allies have mismanaged the economy to such a degree that the collapse in the price of oil during 2014 had ruinous consequences.

Even as the price of crude has begun to creep materially higher, the situation in Venezuela is only getting worse.

In contemporary Venezuela, currency controls restrict food imports, hyperinflation eats into salaries, and people line up for hours to buy basics like flour.

As a result, 90% of Venezuelans live in poverty.

In what appears to be a last-ditch effort to rescue the country’s economy and his regime, President Nicolas Maduro yesterday began sales of the Petro, Venezuela’s oil-backed cryptocurerency. The launch was so successful, Maduro has assured the public, that he is considering launch a “Petro Oro” – a cryptocurrency backed by gold reserves.

But perhaps even more shocking than the dire circumstances under which PDVSA’s remaining employees go to work every day is the contrast with the country’s prosperous past, as Bloomberg describes it…

For decades, PDVSA was a dream job in a socialist petro-state. The company supplied workers not only with a good living and revolutionary-red coveralls, but cafeterias that served lunches with soup, a main course, dessert and freshly squeezed juice. Now, the cafeterias are mostly bare, the children are hungry and employees are leaving to work as taxi drivers, plumbers or farmers. Some emigrate. Some hold out as long as they can.

…Now, instead of enjoying the trappings of a comfortable, middle-class life (not to mention freshly squeezed fruit juice), desperate employees are risking the government’s wrath – and possibly sacrificing their chance at a government pension someday – to escape not only from their jobs, but from Venezuela.

Those who quit without notice risk losing their pensions, as bureaucrats refuse to process paperwork. Many managers live in terror of arrest since the Maduro regime purged the industry, imprisoning officials from low-level apparatchiks to former oil ministers. In one human resources office, a sign advertised a limit of five resignations a day.

“Management is holding them back to stop brain and technical drain,” said Jose Bodas, general secretary of United Federation of Venezuelan Oil Workers. He estimates 500 employees have resigned at the Puerto La Cruz refinery and nearby processing facilities in the past 12 months – even though superiors have labeled them “traitors to the homeland,” a phrase that often precedes arrest. In the streets, families sell their boots and the red coveralls.

“They’re giving up because of hunger,” Bodas said. “They’re leaving because they get paid better abroad. This is unheard of, a catastrophe.”

In a nightmarish reflection of what life must’ve been like in some of the most poverty stricken areas of the Soviet Union, widespread adsenteeism is forcing those who stay behind to work long hours at the state’s insistence – without any additional compensation.

Sitting in the living room of his house, on his day off, Endy Torres says he has lost 33 pounds over the past 18 months. He shows his PDVSA identification photo as proof: a chubby-cheeked man, weighing 176 pounds.

Ten years ago, he joined the company expecting an ample salary and comfortable pension. Today, his 700,000 bolivars per month, plus a food bonus of 1.6 million bolivars (about $9.50 altogether) can’t fill the fridge at his grandmother’s house, where he lives.

About 10 people from his department resigned in January. There are 263 plant operators remaining and 180 vacancies at the Puerto La Cruz refinery, he said.

Absenteeism forces those who show up to work extra hours and burn precious calories. The lack of investment in equipment and maintenance has increased technical failures, almost all in the early hours of the morning, he said. When they occur, workers are too fatigued to act quickly, and accidents occur.

And the worst part of it all is: Even if oil prices make a surprise comeback, years of favoritism, corruption and – now – international sanctions mean it’s unlikely Venezuela’s oil industry will suddenly blossom once again: For those who stay behind, the formerly wealthiest country in Latin America will probably remain mired in poverty, for as long as it’s ruled by a corrupt autocracy.

Voices from Venezuela: Maduro’s Death Squads Threaten Tachira Residents

Saying that Venezuela is on fire would be a mild description of what people are living all over the country, especially in some rural areas.

The State of Tachira, on the border with Colombia, is only one example of how violence has crawled up to people’s homes on a daily basis.

While teenagers and youngsters fight Maduro’s Army and U.S. sponsored terrorists on the street, some people haven’t had to leave their homes to experience the violence that has taken over the country.

See video below:

https://web.facebook.com/TachiraMagica/videos/1794429020574089/

We got first hand testimony from residents from San Cristobal, in the State of Tachira, who are just too afraid to go out on the street because of the continuous repression from Maduro’s death squads.

Near his home, Daniel, a San Cristobal resident, witnessed in various occasions how army personnel dressed in black suits and masks left their headquarters in vans and trucks to terrorise residents who dared challenge Maduro during street protests.

People are picked up on the street by masked men and taken away without charge. In a matter of days or weeks and without a proper trial, they are processed for challenging the government.

See video below:

https://web.facebook.com/ConLaGorraPuesta/videos/1484202068304428/

Later, they appear before a military judge without any legal advice and are then convicted of using their free speech to denounce Maduro’s abuses.

The following is part of Daniel’s unedited testimony:

“On the day of the referendum – Sunday – where there was only one winner, without observers, without opposition and where impunity reigned all over, I was able to see how government forces violently attacked people who protest and demand a better future and a better quality of life.

There is an Army post near my house in San Cristobal. I’ve seen large amounts of army personnel leaving the place hiding their faces with black masks and armed with heavy weapons. They leave in large trucks to attack people who protest on the street. They attack and kill them. They don’t approve of freedom of speech. They don’t care if we are hungry of if we have access to medicine.”

According to Daniel, many voting centres in his city were practically empty, as people were afraid to go out and cast their vote. Voter participation was low, despite official data that estimated some 8 million people as having cast their votes.

“There was very low participation because people are exhausted in the middle of so much misery, violence and corruption. The reality is that in my country we cannot get a hold of food, medicine or any other basic services. Only Maduro supporters get access to food banks through their carnet de la patria” or food bank card.

People are persecuted for thinking differently. They perform express trials and send youngsters to jail via military tribunals, just because they protest against an authoritarian regime.”

Daniel himself is familiar with members of the colectivos armados, Maduro’s death squads. He says he knows some members of that group.

“They grew up with me. They are armed and go out to attack people who oppose Maduro’s government,” he says.

According to Daniel, the colectivos armados have a license to kill with impunity, to destroy private property with the complacency of the authorities.

“Only those of us who live in Venezuela really know what it is like to see this happening every day. No one from outside can faithfully describe and tell you what we live here,” he says.

In addition to having to deal with death squads, residents of San Cristobal in the State of Tachira also have to take care of army snipers, who set up their large rifles on roof tops to take out street protesters.

See video below:

https://web.facebook.com/JavierTarazonaSanchez/videos/10212538708677923/

Daniel’s brother Emilio, who now leaves outside Venezuela is updated daily by his mother and relatives about their concerns.

They tell how army snipers fire from long distance against Venezuelan’s but how they sat idle when Colombian paramilitary threatened their lives from across the border.

Emilio rarely see his relatives, some of whom have moved to Argentina to avoid being targeted by government thugs.

Often, residents are caught up between military police and U.S. sponsored agent provocateurs, who are on the street attempting to turn unrest into chaos. This situation is more palpable in Caracas, where opposition parties are more prevalent.

As in other South American countries, Venezuela lacks a real opposition force, which leaves people without an option to vote for.

While the Maduro regime strives for survival and attempts to grab more power, U.S. supported groups such as the one led by Enrique Capriles, offer little or no alternative to people like Daniel who see their country slowly and painfully melt down due to the violence, the hunger and the corruption they experience every day.

Government Claims Victory in Venezuelan Referendum

[image: cnn.com](The Real Agenda News) Only a couple of million voters participated in Venezuelan consultation.

“After 100 days of insults and threats because of the color of our skin, the fate is set: we have a constituent, justice and peace. Let the world learn to respect us: Venezuela wants votes and not bullets. “

The mayor of Caracas and campaign chief, Jorge Rodriguez, drew his best stony smile to announce an electoral victory in which Maduro’s effort managed to pull 2 million people from their homes to cast their votes.

Not surprisingly, the Democratic Unity Table (DU) completely ignored the outcome of a vote that it boycotted by carrying out street blocks, setting barricades and intimidation those suspected of sympathizing with the government.

The most benevolent predictions estimate that electoral participation was way less than the 7.6 million people who signed against the reform of the Magna Carta on 16 July.

“This was an internal election of the Chavismo,” said DU’s Deputy Stalin Gonzalez.

When the night arrived in Caracas and the official figures were unknown, some assured that, with these elections, the “revolution” was advancing by a giant step.

The DU and the inorganic groups protesting on the streets spoke of a forceful and self-inflicted defeat, with empty voting centers.

In the middle of these two perceptions, the dark face of violence began to appear. According to media reports, 13 people were killed until the time this article was written.

Prosecutor Luisa Ortega Díaz, who jumped the official fence and became the government’s public enemy, spoke of seven fatalities. Rodríguez, said that “no deaths related to the elections were recorded.”

The division is so deep that it begins to outline a path of no return. Julio Borges, the president of the National Assembly (NA) and one of the front line leaders of the DU, asked the Armed Forces, who work as a parallel government, to “listen to the silence of the people” and to abandon Nicolás Maduro.

“You cannot talk about peace if there is a massive abstention and a tremendous repression,” added the deputy. Borges said that the constitutional “fiasco” accelerates the events that will inexorably lead to “change of government”.

Borges said that the constitutional “fiasco” accelerates the events that will inexorably lead to “change of government”.

Maduro had two appearances on Sunday. At six in the morning, he wanted to show himself to the Venezuelans as an exemplary voter, but technology had a trick under its sleeve.

“We will check the voting card, so that it is recorded that I came to vote, and my card of the country was marked for life and that I voted on this historic day,” Maduro said, and showed the document that identifies the Citizens as beneficiaries of food bags and other social rights through a QR code.

It was six o’clock in the morning, and the president displayed his card in front of the cameras. Passing through the scanner of the reading device, the most unthinking phrase appeared: “The person does not exist or the license was canceled”.

Maduro did not expect such a predicament. The machine disavowed it and the opposition found in the incident a political gift, evidence that electoral controls were not reliable.

“He who has eyes to see,” he said afterward, convinced that voter turnout had been as forceful as he was enthusiastic.

The streets of Caracas, and not only those of the east, taken by the opposition, were, however, far from showing an unequivocal enthusiasm.

In many popular neighborhoods, there was clear absenteeism and voting numbers did not meet expectations. Dissident sectors of the Chavismo confirmed that reality to locals who have provided information for this article, and whose testimony will be made public in a later article.

“This process lacks legitimacy of origin. The chavismo has been fractured in fact, his leadership deteriorated. We are at a turning point,” said Gustavo Márquez, former Commerce Minister of Hugo Chávez.

Pessimism reigns in Caracas as opposing groups want to appear as mutually exclusive. According to EL PERIODICO from Catalonia, Luis Vicente León, of Datanalisis, believes that, given the current circumstances of complete polarization, “it is impossible” to make a social pact “in which the other party does not participate”.

Leon believes that the DU must prove “if it is true that being a majority, but without arms, organization, resources and without unified leadership, is sufficient to face the radical strike of a government ready to preserve everything.”

There are those who think that this goal is similar to the square of a circle.

The discussion on the numbers of these elections is on an irrelevant plane because the DU did not recognize them. For the opposition, “the real fight” begins on Monday.

Nicolas Maduro Begins Hunting Coup Plotters and Enablers

Venezuelan President, Nicolas Maduro, who took over for Hugo Chavez, has continued the same policies that have turned Venezuela into the disaster that it is today. [image: Jeso Carneiro]The Venezuelan government began a new offensive against the opposition movement that seeks to complete a Coup d’Etat, and which last Friday appointed a parallel Supreme Court to challenge the regime of Nicolas Maduro.

The first victim of Maduro’s hunt for coup plotters was Professor Angel Zerpa, one of the 33 magistrates appointed to occupy a position in the alternative Supreme Court.

Shortly thereafter, the Venezuelan president confirmed his intentions and assured that he will apprehend, “one by one”, all the jurists appointed by the opposition and that their assets and bank accounts will be seized.

Opposition leaders like Henrique Capriles denounced an operation against the entire new Supreme Court.

The Democratic Unity parties announced on Wednesday a 48-hour general strike against the constituent process led by Maduro.

Lawyer Angel Zerpa was arrested on Saturday afternoon in Caracas by agents of Maduro’s political police. The Attorney General’s Office confirmed the arrest a few hours later.

Officials of the Public Prosecutor’s Office went to the headquarters of the Bolivarian Intelligence Service (SEBIN) to check the detainee’s condition, but were not allowed access.

Zerpa, a professor of law at the Universidad Central de Venezuela (UCV) and Universidad Católica Andreas Bello, both in Caracas, is one of the 33 jurists that the Venezuelan Parliament – controlled by an opposition majority since January 2016, and that was declared “in contempt” by the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) last October – designated on Friday these members of the new parallel Supreme Court as a shadow organization.

The measure challenged the government-controlled State apparatus, which includes powers such as judicial and electoral organs, which the government has allegedly discreetly activated to intimidate or subdue its adversaries.

Zerpa’s arrest appeared to confirm the warning issued by the Constitutional arm of the Supreme Court on Friday, which warned that the inauguration of new magistrates was “extemporaneous” and irritating. He also advised jurists that they could be guilty of various crimes, including misdemeanors.

Some of the newly appointed magistrates, expressed to reporters – from clandestinity – the fear of being the target of arrests.

Meanwhile, opposition leader and two-time presidential candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski, governor of the state of Miranda, said it was the start of a raid:

“The Sebin was ordered to find and detain the newly appointed TSJ magistrates! And the detainees are sent to the Military Prosecutor’s Office!”

The parties of the opposition Democratic Bureau of Unity (DBU) issued a statement rejecting the arrest:

”This action by the Sebin, blindly endorsed by the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice, is a continuation of the coup against the National Assembly and the Constitution and the organs that are servile subordinate to him,” the opposition denounced.

No new incarcerations of magistrates were reported in the course of Sunday, but Maduro confirmed during his weekly public television program the intentions of the regime.

“These people who have been appointed as the judges of the parallel tribunal, are usurpers who are going around, are going to go to prison, one by one, one after another. Accounts and everything, and nobody will defend them,” said the president who is also ready to dialogue with the opposition and “reach an agreement of peace, national coexistence and a cycle of dialogue and talks unique and exclusively in the interests of Venezuela“.

While warnings for the possibility of further arrests of judges are heightened, the opposition also fears that another objective of the security forces is the prosecution of another opposition leader.

The arrested lawyer is a professor at the National School of Prosecutors; attorney general, Luisa Ortega Díaz.

Last March, Ortega Diaz declared unconstitutional a decision of the Supreme Court that granted Maduro legislative powers.

And then, during the protests that this decision originated, the prosecutor attributed to the military and police bodies, systematic violations of human rights in the demonstrations, which supposedly put her under the government’s magnifying lens.

Government Forces Murder 4 More Protesters In Venezuela, Bringing Death Toll To 80

As the oppressive regime of leftist autocrat Nicolas Maduro intensifies its crackdown on anti-government protesters who have been gathering daily in the streets of Caracas and other Venezuelan cities to demand regime change, the government’s body count continues to climb. Last week, one such government-sanctioned killing was caught on video. The chilling footage shows Venezuelan soldiers shooting a 22-year-old rioter in the chest after he hurled rocks at them.

The Associated Press reports that at least four people were killed and eight injured during anti-government protests in central Venezuela on Saturday. The deaths brought to at least 80 the number of people killed since anti-government protests erupted three months ago.

“Chief prosecutor Luis Ortega Diaz confirmed that four deaths occurred Friday in clashes in Barquisimeto. The city"s mayor blamed the deaths on armed militias that support Venezuela"s socialist government.”

The deaths occurred as Ortega Diaz  - who has had the temerity to stand up to Maduro and question his late-March decision to dissolve the opposition-controlled National Assembly - asked the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights for protection Friday, days after Venezuela"s Supreme Court barred her from leaving the country and ordered her bank accounts froze, according to the Associated Press.

Ortega Diaz is one of the few remaining Maduro critics who haven’t already been removed from power, challenging Maduro"s push to rewrite the constitution and pressing charges against officers responsible for deaths during anti-government protests.

Her latest crime? Her office announced this past week that it would summon the chief of Venezuela"s feared Sebin intelligence agency, Gustavo Gonzalez, to appear on suspicion of "committing grave and systemic violations of human rights."

Maduro responded to Ortega Diaz"s decision by promoting Gonzalez to head of the nation"s army.

Here’s more on that from the AP:

Prosecutors said they are investigating incidents of illegitimate detentions, arbitrary raids and cases in which people have remained imprisoned despite court orders that they be freed.

Maduro responded hours later by promoting Gonzalez to head the nation"s army. He called Gonzalez and Antonio Benavides Torres, another high-ranking official under investigation by the state prosecutor, "brave patriots."

"They have defended the peace of the republic and have all my support," Maduro said.

Maduro has tightened his grip on power and cracked down on his political opposition as the collapse in oil prices – the Venezuelan government’s primary source of revenue – coupled with years of economic mismanagement by Maduro precipitated an unprecedented economic crisis in the country. The collapse of Venezuela’s currency, the bolivar, which trades on the black market at a rate of nearly 8,000 to the dollar, triggered hyperinflation that has made bare essentials like flour, meat, medicine and toilet paper unavailable to the general population.

Venezuela: The incredible legacy of an experiment with socialism

By John Moody   Published May 19, 2017

Here’s the legacy of Venezuela’s experiment with socialism: daily riots and protests that have resulted in at least 40 deaths in recent weeks at the hands of government security forces. Inflation estimated at 720 percent. Shortages of basic foods and medicines. An average weight loss among Venezuelans of 19 pounds, which had nothing to do with the South Beach diet. Newborn babies deposited in dresser drawers because hospitals have no beds. Zoo animals hunted down and butchered for food by the ravenous population.

Finally, this week, and only at the urging of the United States, the United Nations is considering the desperate situation in what was once South America’s most prosperous country, before socialism sank its fangs in, sucking the economy dry.

President Nicholas Maduro, a political stooge who assumed power after the death of the charismatic but egomaniacal Hugo Chavez, was forced earlier this year to ask the U.N. for emergency aid, an admission of his inability to keep his people fed and secure. And to show what a powerful institution it is, the U.N. took away Venezuela’s vote in the General Assembly because it could not pay its dues. Maduro must have been quaking with fear. When the Organization of American States criticized Maduro’s response to the unrest, he took decisive action – he pulled Venezuela out of the OAS.

[snip]

The near-daily riots have turned deadly in recent weeks, as Maduro’s forces, propped up by Cuban security, resort to live ammunition against their fellow citizens. As my colleague at the Wall Street Journal Anatoly Kurmanaev reported this week from Caracas, the police are weary of killing their neighbors. Their support for Maduro – the only reason he is still in power – diminishes with each deadly demonstration.

“A lot of Venezuelans have become radicalized because they’re desperate,” Kurmanaev told me. “There’s no going back to how things were two months ago. Something is going to change. This is the final chapter of Venezuelan history, one way or another. Either Maduro will cement his rule by dictatorship, or there’ll be some kind of transitional government.  It can’t continue like this.”

For many aggrieved Venezuelans, that choice is an easy one.

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Venezuelan Army Maintains Maduro in Power

(image: www.stratfor.com)

(The Real Agenda News) Maduro enjoys a weak 30% of popular support as Chavistas disagree on what to do with the ongoing popular uprising.

For some sectors of the Venezuelan opposition it is a prophetic act. Dissidents want to believe that Nicolas Maduro is close to political surrender.

They maintain that, as social anger grows in the streets, Maduro will have no choice but to end the repression and accept the call for elections.

During a series of street protests last Friday in the state of Zulia, protesters knocked down a statue of Hugo Chavez and then took it down, as people did in 1989 in some Eastern European countries with some bronze figures of Vladimir Lenin.

While he appears to be relaxed in public, Maduro told the country “nothing is going” and that “everything is under control”.

Some people ask how can the government of a country with an annual inflation of 700% and bills of $13 billion be so bold. Others say that the government’s call for a Constituent Assembly is an act of cunning and false intransigence to then negotiate or otherwise political suicide that can open the door to a major confrontation.

“It’s time to listen to the people: That’s enough,” said the famous orchestra conductor, Gustavo Dudamel. Chavismo, for the moment, minimizes the force of a protest that has left 37 people dead.

“We are on the verge of subversion and armed insurrection,” Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López said of the demonstrations, with words typical of the right-wing South American dictators of the 1970s.

According to surveys, Maduro barely enjoys a 30% of social support. On May 1, the president participated in a mass rally, although the opposition detracted from it considering that the attendees had been dragged by the state.

It is evident that there still exists a “hard core” of Chavismo. This movement is considered, among other things, the sons of the “Caracazo”, the social outbreak against the adjustment that former president Carlos Andrés Pérez tried to set in motion at the end of February of 1989.

Almost 300 people died during 15 days of clashes with the police that had as central protagonists the popular sectors that “descended from the barrios to reject the neoliberal turn of the economy.

So far, this “descent of the hills” has not taken place in Caracas. Nor did the opposition fully set foot in these vital territories to push for any change. Despite the pauperization, they are still on the side of the Government that gave them political identity and benefits.

Maduro counts in his favor with the state resources, the Supreme Court, the intelligence services and, above all, with the Armed Forces. The president does not point out that, in fact, his government is a kind of civic-military coalition.

Not in vain are there generals in one-third of the ministries, at the head of state enterprises and involved in smuggling, according to press reports.

Retired General Fernando Antonio Ochoa Antich, who in 1992 faced the military assault led by the then young Hugo Chavez, warns that there is some discontent among members of the armed forces.

“The military should understand that this position that has been maintained for years is completely wrong and that it might cause a rupture within the institution,” he told Tal Cual magazine.

The opposition knows otherwise that there will be no way out until the army ends its support of Maduro.

There was a time in which the Central Bank of Venezuela got up to $35 billion of reserves. About 96% of that money was the result of the export of hydrocarbons. By then, the barrel of oil was close to 90 dollars.

Part of the economic meltdown is explained by falling international prices. During 2016, the barrel got to be below $30. At the moment it is near the $45. The Government expects that at the end of year the price of crude will climb to $60.

Authorities hope that if prices continue to rise, they will again have resources to improve food distribution, purchase of medicines and improve their image.

Under these conditions, in these difficult days, Maduro would be willing to compete electorally. For the opposition, however, Venezuelans should vote without further delay.

The disagreement is explosive and the reason for the present crisis could be deactivated if the moderate sectors of Chavismo and the opposition reached a minimum level of consensus. An agreement, however, is something that, at this point, glimpses impossible and opens the doors to the worst.

Venezuelan Escalates “War on Bread” As Food Shortages Continue to Plague a Hungry Population

 

This article was written by Tyler Durden and originally published at Zero Hedge.

Editor’s Comment: In the great logic of governments, the Venezuelan dictator has essentially ordered an end to hunger by making a rule against food shortage. But no rule, no matter how strictly enforced, will work if there is no supply for the food. The shortages of imported food staples is the source problem here with the bread, not the conduct of the bakers, and yet they are facing new, and somewhat bizarre, implements as Maduro takes on the “economic war” against his country – paid for with the price of his people’s hunger.

This remains a desperate situation that is only getting worse, and remains a textbook reminder of why socialism, once the wealth has been stripped or used up, is ultimately doomed to fail.

As Venezuelan “Bread War” Escalates, Maduro Warns Bakers “You Will Pay, I Swear”

by Tyler Durden

With its people resorting to eating flamingoes, the Venezuelan government has decided to find yet another thing to blame for the collapse of the socialist utopia – the bakers!

As The BBC reports, the Venezuelan government says it will expropriate bakeries which fail to abide by new government regulations aimed at tackling bread shortages.

In a growing row between the government and bakers, officials said that bakeries could face fines if people had to queue to get their bread. Severe shortages of basic goods mean that Venezuelans often have to queue for hours to buy essential items.

The government says the shortages are caused by an “economic war”.

Venezuela does not produce wheat and relies on imports bought in by the government which it then sends to mills where it is ground and then distributed.

The government blames bakers for the bread shortages, accusing them of using the flour allocated to them to bake pastries rather than simple baguette-style bread in order to maximise their profits.

Croissants and other sweet baked goods are more expensive than baguettes and French-style breads, as the prices for the latter are controlled by the socialist government.

So the government has decided that more price controls will fix the problem and has unveiled new rules for bakers…

• Use 90% of flour to bake savoury bread and only 10% for pastries and cakes


• Provide a constant supply of bread throughout the day from 07:00 to 19:00


• Ensure next day’s supply by holding over bread from the previous day

And the rules will be strictly enforced…

On Sunday, President Nicolas Maduro announced that inspectors would be sent to 709 bakeries in the capital, Caracas, to ensure they were complying with the new rules.

He said that those “speculators who hide the bread from the people will face the weight of the law”.

“They’re going to pay, I swear. Those responsible for the bread war are going to pay and they better not complain that it was a political persecution,” he added.

Vice-President Tareck El Aissami warned that “bakeries which do not follow [the rules] will be occupied by the government”.

As The Miami Herald notes, two bakeries were already seized for 90 days for breaking a number of rules, including selling overpriced bread.

Juan Crespo, the president of the Industrial Flour Union called Sintra-Harina, which represents 9,000 bakeries nationwide, said the government’s heavy hand isn’t going to solve the problem. “The government isn’t importing enough wheat,” he said. “If you don’t have wheat, you don’t have flour, and if you don’t have flour, you don’t have bread.” He said the country needs four, 30-ton boats of wheat every month to cover basic demand.

The notion that bread could become an issue in Venezuela is yet another indictment of a socialist economic system gone bust.

This article was written by Tyler Durden and originally published at Zero Hedge.

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Maduro Kicks CNN Out of Venezuela, Following Trump Resistance to “Coup By Fake News”

Embattled Venezuelan leader Nicholas Maduro is following in the footsteps of Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump – in dissing CNN and calling them out as “fake news.”

Indeed, it seems that world leaders are now officially onto their tricks.

Only weeks ago, President-elect Trump denied a CNN reporter a question at his first press conference, after ranting about things he indicated the network has done, before accusing them being “fake news.” No question for you:

President Donald Trump Slams CNN and calls them Fake News!!!

It turned out to be the shot heard ’round the world.

As Zero Hedge reported:

Two days ago, we reported that Venezuela’s President Maduro threatened to take CNN off the air as a result of accusations it was spreading propaganda and “fake news.” Well, it is now official because as AP reports, Venezuela’s government has officially suspended CNN in Spanish, shutting off the news channel after a report on fraudulent passports that drew angry criticism from officials.

The country’s National Telecommunications Commission announced Wednesday that it initiated the “administrative sanction” because of news stories it considered “direct aggressions” against Venezuela.

As we explained on Monday, over the weekend Maduro said he wanted CNN out of the country, accusing it of spreading fake news, misrepresenting the truth and meddling in issues that are not of its concern. According to a PanAmPost report, Maduro’s anger was the result of a student demand on national television that the president improve the conditions of his school, asking for security, infrastructure and food so his classmates wouldn’t faint from hunger anymore. CNN en Español visited the high school and talked with the staff about the student, and whether Maduro had made any improvements since that incident only to discover he had not.

CNN has been exposed as a propaganda outlet, and identified as such – an unofficial but very direct arm of U.S. State Dept. propaganda policy. Thanks to some tweaks in the law passed under President Obama, propaganda was officially legalized within the borders of the United States, expanding the previous mandate for ‘official’ propaganda only being broadcast in overseas targets. Now, covert ties, and conflicts of interests need not be tended to, nor a check on bias and facts.

Propaganda is legalized, weaponized and a potent, and regular weapon of population conditioning both at home and abroad. CNN has proved to be a particularly flagrant example, and have no doubt spun some webs for the corporate empire, some of which is based in U.S. power.

This is interesting because of the pattern that is developing.

This is a cross-stitched, ingrained pattern – it cuts both ways.

CNN has now been officially outed as a weapon of state. Its propaganda line favors some rather obvious interests, from the general establishment line, to scrimmage against anti-vaccine news to defend pharmaceutical sponsors, to partnering with foreign governments and granting favorable coverage, to allegedly manufacturing stories and events with a dubious basis in reality. The network, strapped for cash to continue its operations has even gone so far as to create PR items for sponsors that appears to be, or could easily be confused with, actual news coverage, that instead touts positive associations and talking points.

Al Jazeera reported on the phenomenon, asking CNN to broadcast corporate propaganda as news? A cynical but witty observer would point out the obvious lack of distinction between this new policy, and every other day of broadcast when corporate interests are promoted:

On June 8, CNN unveiled “Courageous,” a new production unit and an in-house studio that would be paid by advertisers to produce and broadcast news-like “branded content.”

“This isn’t about confusing editorial with advertising,” CNN executive Dan Riess told the Wall Street Journal. But a corporation going beyond advertising on a channel and funding the network to produce PR segments made to look like news is exactly the kind of confusion Riess is referring to.

It is a difficult line, but CNN should, in fact, but painted with a scarlet letter “P” for propaganda so that everyone can see them approaching.

In this case, CNN has it coming, and we can only chuckle at seeing them reprimanded. But other cases might not be so funny. Harsh rules could chill free speech and stifle legitimate investigative journalism, in spite of the fact that many of these outlets and fronts are being used in attempt to destabilize foreign regimes, or, let’s say, help pick the president in a given American election. The fact that Trump fought back against CNN was justified, but not the lawsuits that have been filed against journalists for reporting about alleged scandals in his wife’s past.

In point of fact, the false narrative about “fake news” that was propagated by the left, and the supporters of the former Secretary of State, who was in a sense, once the premier U.S. official over the use of propaganda, succeeded in stripping advertising revenue, You Tube monetization and other financial supporter for many alternative media outlets, both big and small.

I know from personal stories that people have been hurt by this – without any specific charge against their website, but because they were included on the ProporNot blacklist of “fake news” alternative media sites, many of whom supported Donald Trump in the election.

This is an information war, and the pendulum will swing in both directions.

At one end is total state control of the media and media censorship. This happens in a clumsy, but complete sort of way in many authoritarian regimes, and in a subtle and crafty way in democratic societies. Individual rights are at risk; freedom of speech is violated even in places that should guard it. Data and information have become just another avenue for police, customs and border or civil authorities to investigate, examine and control. But intellectual thoughts and expressions should remain protected in the right to say them, and private in the transfer and storage and free from data collection unless there is a specific warrant for a specific case.

And on the other end, stealthy covert warfare has been ongoing through the fronts of philanthropy and charity organizations, think tanks and protest coalitions and the indirect funding of proxy groups. Vladimir Putin set the tone by kicking out hundreds of NGOs and diplomatic organizations that he rightly branded as “undesirable” – these groups chiefly centered around their connections to billionaire George Soros, who has admittedly been sponsoring color revolutions since the string of rebellions that split up the Soviet Union.

via Washington Times:

Two pro-democracy foundations launched by liberal U.S. billionaire businessman George Soros have been officially banned by the Russian government, the Kremlin said Monday, which charged that the groups pose a threat to Russian national security and public order.

The decision by the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office, which extends a crackdown on foreign nongovernmental organizations such as the National Endowment for Democracy and Freedom House begun this summer, puts the Moscow branches of Mr. Soros‘ Open Society Foundations and an allied foundation on a so-called “stop list” of foreign NGOs that are no longer allowed to operate within Russia’s borders or give money to Russian individuals and civil society organizations.

“It was found out that the activity of the Open Society Foundations and the Open Society Institute Assistance Foundation poses a threat to the foundations of the Russian constitutional system and security of the state,” said Marina Gridneva, the spokesperson of the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office, in a statement Monday.

More recently, Soros, and partners like former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, have been using foundation front groups and artificial protests to agitate and overturn ‘undesirable’ regimes. Much of the Arab Spring consisted of such phony uprisings, which advanced covert policy objectives of the U.S. State Dept. and the private whims of an eccentric villain. Russia has been the major target of this work, though much of it has been conducted at indirect targets. NGOs have been positively connected to protest movements in Russia, outspoken critics of Putin and attempts to stir a color revolution inside the Russian state.

While testifying to Congress as Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton noted the rise of information warfare – a battle which she claimed the U.S. was losing, in part to lobby for more State Dept. propaganda funds – and the multi-polar world where RT and Al Jazeera have become counter-propaganda outlets, carrying information that (often rightly) contradicts the falsities and fictions of the official government mouthpieces and corporate media sycophants.

Hillary identified Venezuela, Russia and China as “enemies” whose propaganda should be met with increased funding for U.S. counter-propaganda and broadcast efforts. Hence, Maduro’s ban of CNN, just like Putin’s kicking out the Soros-linked foundations, is actually proportional to clear activities directed against it. Though Maduro is not a good guy, he is certainly justified in suggesting that U.S. corporate media is attempting to undermine his authority, and further, it would not be radical to suggest that a sustained campaign was intended to fuel his ouster.

Later in her 2016 campaign, a bitter Hillary Clinton would also label alternative media outlets inside the U.S. as enemies and/or deplorables. Where she was able to, she and her surrogates also connected alternative media to Russian propaganda strings.

That narrative chased candidate, then President-elect, and now President Trump all the way into the Oval Office, and attempted to delegitimize Trump’s victory with the false narrative of Russian hacking. With the firing of Gen. Flynn, the narrative takes a new, and strong turn, suggesting blackmail and intrigue with Russian counterparts inside Trump’s cabinet.

Who controls this narrative? With a free and open Internet, we can hope that the truth will always out, in one way or another. In fact, it is countless ordinary Americans, outraged at the things taking place in their name and insider our borders who’ve been speaking out, holding political leaders accountable with tough questions, taking elected officials to task at town hall meetings, driving alternative media blogs and You Tube accounts, fighting IRS and Obamacare corruption, etc. etc.

Slapping down CNN and the other news whores is long overdue; but not if it infringes on legitimate free speech.

Information is a powerful weapon of regime change; and it should remain that way, with everyone equally armed.

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