Price Control

One of Chavez’s biggest projects in Venezuela is trying to control the price of the basic needs such as sugar, milk, and meat. I witnessed the enforcement of this price control the other week when I was at the mall. My husband and I went downtown with Milagro, a friend on my uncle. She took us to the mall and we saw a huge line at the grocery store. We asked the people in line what they were waiting for and found out that the line was for sugar. We continued through the mall for about an hour and saw that the steadily moving line was just as long as it was an hour ago. Milagro decided to call my uncle to ask if he needed sugar. He said he did so we got in line. Each family was allowed to buy 7 bags (1 Kg each) of sugar. Members of the military were there to enforce the 7 bag rule and to keep order. To get the most sugar possible, we had to pretend we didn't know each other. We each got 7 bags and proceeded to the checkout. The checkout lines were extremely long and it took about an hour to pay. The sugar cost 2.5 bolivares per bag (about $0.75 USD). A couple of days later at an outdoor produce market, we saw people selling sugar for 8 bolivares per Kg.
Today Chavez’s daily TV show was about hunger and price control. He broadcast his show from a warehouse of the government run grocery store, Mercal. He interviewed employees and checked the prices of all the foods. He then compared the prices that Mercal charged to the prices that the “capitalists” charges. He had a whole table of different products that each had a sign with Mercal’s price and the “capitalist’’ price. For example he had a bag of ice tea mix and it said that Mercal’s price was 2.5 bolivares and the “capitalist’s” price was 4.5 bolivares.
I am not exactly sure who he meant by “the capitalists” but I think he was referring to small privately owned grocery stores that would but their products from Mercal and sell it for profit. After he compared the prices of the products he asked a lady from his audience if that scared her. During his tour of the warehouse he would also point out products produced in Venezuela and claim it was the best in the world.
After the tour, Chavez gave a speech to the employees of Mercal, and a Catholic priest. He praised Mercal for for being a good socialist company, owned by the people of Venezuela. Chavez announced his plan to help Mercal expand so that they can put the, overpriced, capitalist grocery stores out of business. He wants everyone in Venezuela to have easy access to affordable, price controlled food. He talked a lot about how socialism has eradicated hunger in Venezuela and that hunger really doesn’t exist in Venezuela anymore.
During my time in Venezuela I have realized that the cost of living is very high. The only grocery stores within walking distance have Chinese owners and it is very expensive. Not many who live here have a car and are able to drive to the cheaper grocery stores. The price to get to one in a cab is about $7.50. Expanding the Mercal markets will defiantly increase socialism’s presence in Venezuela.