Children in Venezuela are fainting from hunger

[Bacchus4.0]

http://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2016/07/15/venezuela-school-children.cnn

Maybe they should adopt Cuba's model.

[Warpy]

1. Venezuela always imported its food, that's the problem

and thought oil revenues would keep them fed in perpetuity. Chavez realized that was a big problem and instituted land reform, but in such a hamfisted manner that people found themselves with small plots of land to farm but no paperwork to show that they owned it and therefore no way to borrow any money for seed and basic equipment. Trying to get the country to feed itself has been an uphill struggle because of resistance by big landowners who didn't want their uncultivated property going to peasants, by bankers who thought the same, and by a government that hasn't known its ass from its elbow for a very long time.

Chavez had sort of the right idea, but his follow through was wretched.

[GatoGordo]

2. Prior to Chavismo, they were a HUGE food exporter.

Chavez/Maduro nationalized the farms (land reform) and many major industries, driving them into insolvency. El Pueblo got the title to the land, but didn't know the first thing about farming. Then, Maduro promised them access to markets, but the cost of planting anything is far more than the price that the Chavistas promised for the end product. It doesn't make sense to spend $100 to recoup $10. Providing, they could get access to seeds to plant.

Now, farming is only on a small scale, and these private farmers must fight off armed Chavista gangs who steal their beef cattle, pigs, chickens and any produce that they can carry off.

He keeps threatening to nationalize Polar (the VZ equivalent to ADM or Cargill) because of an ongoing feud with the ownership, but he knows full well that nationalizing the last company doing business in Venezuela will result in what has happened all to often. Just ask the "new owners" of the GM and Kimberly Clark plants... El Pueblo. Nothing is being produced by the workers who have been given title to these recently nationalized facilities because they (like the previous owners) cannot get access to raw materials to produce anything.

The Bolivar is WORTHLESS.