Monday, March 22, 2010

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.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

The US Dollar in Venezuela

When my husband Pablo and I arrived in the Caracas International airport many people would walk by us and whisper “Change dollar.” Although we thought is was a little strange that they were acting secretive we didn't think much of it and we decided to change the little USD that we had at an authorized money exchanging booth instead. They gave us a rate of 4.2 Bolivares per dollar. A lady working at the Venezuelan tourism office informed us that we could get 5.2 Bolivares for every dollar if we change it on the streets but she did not explain why they offered a better rate in the streets that at the money exchange booths. When we arrived in Puerto Ordaz we asked my cousin, Father Greg Schaffer, why you can get a better exchange rate on the streets. He explained that the president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, has made it illegal to have US dollars in Venezuela because his opposition uses the US dollar. So for a Venezuelan citizen or company to get or have US dollars they must get a permit, which requires a lot of paperwork, or they can try to illegally buy them from US tourists but with the risk of punishment.
This reminded me of a story that one of my high school spanish teachers had told us about Cuba. She was born in Cuba and when she was very young Castro took over. He, like Chavez. made it illegal to have the US dollar. My teacher’s grandfather owned a vending machine company that operated in the US so he had a lot of US change. He did not want to get caught with this money so he brought all his US money to a field in the middle of no where and his family helped him scatter it around. He was so afraid of the consequences he would face if he got caught with the money that he had to throw it away.
Chavez identifies as a socialist but I find it very alarming that he is using the same extreme tactics as communist leader Fidel Castro, to take power away from his opposition.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Ciudad Guayana

Ciudad Guayana, Venezuela is made up of two smatter cities, Puerto Ordaz and San Felix. My husband and I are staying in the poorer of the two, San Felix. Cuidad Guayana was founded in the 50’s as a mining town. Everyone who moved to Guayana came to work in the mines or help build them but after the construction of the mines was completed, many were left job less. Puerto Ordaz is a very modern city with malls, theme parks and many other modern day conveniences. San Felix is much poorer then puerto Ordaz and has high unemployment rates. Father Greg Schaffer predicts the unemployment rate in his congregation to be as high as 70%.
Another thing plaguing the inhabitants of ciudad Guayana is HIV. the HIV rate is very high in this city. Many contribute the high HIV rate to the machismo culture that encourages men to sleep around. Ciudad Guayana is very distinct because, for unknown reasons, the male/female ratio is very unbalance. There are many more women here then men which makes it easier for men to have many partners which leads to the spread of disease. This also means that most mothers here are single and have to support their families by themselves. I hope to find out more about the lives of women in this region and gain a better understanding of the gender roles here.