Let them eat Chavismo

Let them eat Chavismo
The UN honours Venezuela for curbing hunger—which is actually getting worse
Jun 20th 2015 | CARACAS

NEWS that the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) had given
Venezuela a diploma for its "notable and exceptional" efforts to curb
hunger did not reach Joseína Rodríguez. Recently unemployed, and living
with her family in a farm outhouse in the south-west of the country, she
was too busy working out where her next meal was coming from.

"Joseína" (not her real name) helps run one of the community councils
that are the building blocks of the "socialist revolution" set up by the
late President Hugo Chávez. "Chávez used to say that with the revolution
everything would keep getting better," she sighs. "I don't know why this
president (his successor, Nicolás Maduro) hasn't kept the promise."
Sitting on an upturned bucket in the dusty yard of a farm that was taken
over (before Chávez) by its workers, she says she used to work making
meals for her neighbours, but stopped "because they can't pay the prices
I have to charge." Staples reaching her community via the main
state-subsidised food network cover only 200 of the 1,000 families who
are supposed to benefit.

The word "hunger" has been heard a lot in Caracas lately, mostly thanks
to a hunger strike by Leopoldo López, the jailed opposition leader, and
dozens of his supporters. Their demands—that political prisoners be
freed, and a date set for parliamentary elections with foreign observers
watching—have so far been ignored. This week some Brazilian senators
were the latest senior foreign visitors to back the detainees.

So the UN plaudit was a relief for the government. According to the FAO,
which presented the diploma on June 8th, Venezuela is one of 72
countries that have reached the UN Millennium Development Goal of
halving the percentage of their populations suffering from hunger. But
the prize, based on government data up to 2012, comes amid growing
evidence that the trend has reversed.

In his speech to the FAO, Vice-president Jorge Arreaza cited the
government's claim that 95% of Venezuelans eat three meals a day. But in
a survey carried out last year by three leading universities, more than
11% said they ate just twice a day or less.

The FAO said it saw no reason to doubt the statistics it used. But many
of the numbers needed for a full evaluation have not been published for
years. The central bank has issued no monthly inflation or food scarcity
figures for 2015. In November, even by official accounts a minimum wage
only bought 76% of the food required for the average family. Independent
estimates suggest three-and-a-half minimum wages are now required. About
40% of those in work get the minimum wage or less.

Marianella Herrera, a nutritionist at the Fundación Bengoa, a private
foundation, calls official data partial and inconsistent. "Other studies
show an increase in malnutrition," she says. "Children are showing up in
hospital emergency wards with severe malnutrition, and some are dying
because of a lack of basic supplies." The government's own figures,
which show it reached the UN target for reducing malnutrition in
children by 2008, indicate that by 2013 Venezuela was close to crossing
the line again, in the opposite direction.

Joseína finds it a mercy that local authorities help where central
agencies fail. "Last week they brought chicken, the week before it was
milk." Another lifeline comes from plantain from local farms and
occasionally fish. Getting to a supermarket takes an hour and a half by
motorcycle-taxi and bus; queues are long. "Sometimes when we get to the
door, nothing is left."

Source: Let them eat Chavismo | The Economist -
http://www.economist.com/news/americas/21654653-un-honours-venezuela-curbing-hungerwhich-actually-getting-worse-let-them-eat-chavismo