Venezuela food shortages despite oil revenue boom

VENEZUELA: At first glance the supermarket off Avenida Francisco Miranda appeared to be a gourmet dream. Smoked salmon in the freezer. An aisle filled with Italian olive oil, balsamic vinegar and pesto. Another aisle stacked with Perrier, champagne and the finest Scotch.

But of milk, eggs, sugar and cooking oil there was no sign. Where were they? The question yesterday prompted a puzzled look from the manager. "There isn't any. Everybody knows that. Pasta is probably the next to go," he shrugged.

Welcome to Venezuela, a booming economy with a difference. Food shortages are plaguing the country at the same time that oil revenues are driving a spending splurge on imported luxury goods, prompting criticism of President Hugo Chávez's socialist policies.

Milk has all but vanished from shops. Distraught mothers ask how they are supposed to feed their infants. Many cafes and restaurants serve only black coffee.

Families say eggs and sugar are but a memory. "The last time I had them was September," said Marisol Perez (51), a housewife in Petare, a sprawling barrio in eastern Caracas.

When supplies do arrive, long queues form instantly. Purchases are rationed and hands are stamped to prevent cheating. The sight of a milk truck reportedly prompted a near-riot last week.

Up to a quarter of staple food supplies have been disrupted, according to Datanalisis, a public opinion and economic research group. To Chávez's detractors the scarcity is evidence that his revolutionary "21st-century socialism" is driving South America's oil power towards ruin.

Government price controls on staple foods are so low that producers cannot make a profit, they say, and farms and businesses hesitate to invest in crops or machinery, or stockpile inventories, for fear of expropriations.

The government says that shortages are exaggerated by the media and reflect greater spending power by the poor thanks to social programmes which have directed oil revenues into the slums.

Despite the problems, Chavez is expected to win a referendum next month which will abolish term limits, enabling him to stand for continuous re-election and fulfil his wish to stay in power until 2021 or even 2030.

© 2007 Guardian Service

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times