Venezuela to create fingerprinting system to limit food smuggling

[Judi Lynn]

Venezuela to create fingerprinting system to limit food smuggling
CARACAS Thu Aug 21, 2014 10:01am EDT


Aug 21 (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro ordered the creation of a fingerprinting system in stores that sell food to limit smuggling of subsidized staple products to neighboring countries.

The system, announced late on Wednesday, is meant to ease chronic shortages of consumer products ranging from cooking oil to toilet paper by preventing shoppers from buying large quantities of the same goods.

&quot We will) create a biometric system ... in all distribution and retail systems, public and private," Maduro said during a televised broadcast in which he also created several anti-contraband commissions.

He did not say if the system would be set up in the entire country or only in border states.

Price controls and heavy subsidies allow Venezuelans to buy groceries, drive them across the border to Colombia, and resell them for a handsome profit. They have also created black markets within Venezuela in which informal vendors resell scarce products at a steep markup.

~snip~
Maduro says product shortages, which create long lines and at times leave store shelves bare, are driven by smuggling that diverts at least 40 percent of food and medicine to other countries.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/21/venezuela-food-idUSL2N0QR0QG20140821?rpc=401&feedType=RSS&feedName=rbssConsumerGoodsAndRetailNews&rpc=401

[Zorro]

1. Most factual article: Venezuela proposes fingerprinting grocery shoppers

Venezuelans could soon have to scan their fingerprints to buy bread.

President Nicolas Maduro says a mandatory fingerprinting system is being implemented at grocery stores to combat food shortages by keeping people from buying too much of a single item. He calls it an "anti-fraud system" like the fingerprint scan the country uses for voting.

In announcing the plan late Wednesday, Maduro did not say when the system would take effect, but other administration officials suggested it could be in place by December or January.

The move was met with skepticism. Critics said the new system is tantamount to rationing and constitutes a breach of privacy. Others simply wondered if anything short of a systemic overhaul of the economy could help the socialist South American country's chronically bare shelves.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/venezuela-proposes-fingerprinting-shoppers-191605930.html

[Bacchus4.0]

2. yep, not a good sign is it? n/t

[COLGATE4]

5. Just another step in the 'Cubanization' of Venezuela.

Food rationing.

[Bacchus4.0]

8. Nationalization of farms, ranches, food processors, and supermarket has made it worse

Thats chavez' fault and Maduro who won't undo anything hugo did since he is just a lap dog.

[Marksman_91]

3. Essentially a modernized Cuban-style rationing method

Tell me again why Venezuela has to deal with this crap while other LatAm countries don't have the need for it?

[Judi Lynn]

4. Venezuela to introduce new biometric card in bid to target food smuggling

Venezuela to introduce new biometric card in bid to target food smuggling

Fingerprint scanning to be used to fight food shortages made worse by hoarding and smuggling to neighbouring countries

Virginia López in Caracas
The Guardian, Thursday 21 August 2014 14.02 EDT

Venezuela's president, Nicolás Maduro, plans to introduce a compulsory "biometric card" designed to limit individuals' food purchases using a fingerprint scanner. The move, announced on Wednesday, is part of the government's latest effort to fight the oil-rich nation's chronic food shortages, which it claims result from hoarding by speculators, who resell goods at a profit, and from smuggling into neighbouring countries.

This will be the second time the government has introduced a fingerprint-based system to track and limit food purchases. Earlier this year, Venezuelans were encouraged to sign up voluntarily for a similar system to be used in government-run shops, promising to end scarcity of basic food stuffs and ease the queues outside grocery stores. But this Secure Supply Card failed to survive beyond the trial phase.

"We are creating a biometric system … to function in all distribution and retail systems, public and private," Maduro said in a televised address on Wednesday. "This will be – like the fingerprint scan we use in our electoral system – a perfect anti-fraud system." He gave no further details about how the system will work or when it will come into effect.

According to government sources, more than 40% of goods purchased in Venezuela – including medicines and basic food stuff – are smuggled out of the country. Price controls and heavy subsidies mean goods purchased in Venezuela can often fetch close to four times their original price if taken to neighbouring countries. Additionally, goods sold across the western border in Colombia mean extra earnings for Venezuelans who upon returning can trade Colombian pesos at the black market rate for a profit.

More:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/21/biometric-venezuela-food-shortages-smuggling-fingerprints

[Judi Lynn]

6. Maduro embarks on anti-smuggling crusade in Venezuela

Maduro embarks on anti-smuggling crusade in Venezuela

Biometric technology will be used in stores to stop purchases of goods from different locations

Maduro convierte en una cruzada nacional la lucha contra el contrabando

Alfredo Meza Caracas 21 AGO 2014 - 18:52 CEST

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro will try anything to maintain the country’s generous subsidies. In light of the administration’s cash-flow problem, and fearful of the social unrest that cutting subsidies could unleash, Maduro has decided to tighten controls to prevent subsidized goods from crossing the border into Colombia, where they sell at market value with a high profit margin.

On Wednesday, the president called for a mandatory broadcast on TV and radio stations to announce an all-out fight against contraband goods. He asked all Venezuelans to collaborate with the government. “I urge and invite the entire country to back all of these measures. I need your support,” he said. Several ministers and his new superintendent of fair prices, Andrés Eloy Méndez, stood by his side.

Maduro also took the opportunity to reiterate the regime’s perspective. According to the administration, the opposition defends the black market and wants to eliminate the government’s price controls in order to increase the profit margins of private businesses.

~snip~
Every one of these measures serves the chavistas’ vision of the world. For the last 15 years, the movement has been fighting to destroy the logic of supply and demand. Maduro has said that as president “he will defend Venezuelans’ right to live in peace.”

Looking at the camera, he drew one last breath and spit at “the mafias.” “Know that you are not going to beat us, not by exhaustion or through annoyance. You couldn’t and you can’t overcome our love for this nation.”

http://elpais.com/elpais/2014/08/21/inenglish/1408639965_808756.html

[FrodosPet]

7. Does Venezuela have the telecommunications and DP infrastructure needed?

They WILL NOT be using the people who developed healthcare.gov, will they?

The lines at the stores are gonna be crazy. In the best case, it is adding time to each transaction. At worst - can people still buy if the system is crashed?

On the darker side: it might build a strong black market to sell artificial fingers (or maybe not so artificial *shudder*?)