The multiple tragedies roiling Venezuela—widespread hunger, political repression, catastrophic inflation—continue apace. The Miami Herald reports:
Facing a bread shortage that is spawning massive lines and souring the national mood, the Venezuelan government is responding this week by detaining bakers and seizing establishments. In a press release, the National Superintendent for the Defense of Socioeconomic Rights said it had charged four people and temporarily seized two bakeries as the socialist administration accused bakers of being part of a broad “economic war” aimed at destabilizing the country. … Two bakeries were also seized for 90 days for breaking a number of rules, including selling overpriced bread.
That Venezuela, which sits on the world’s largest proven oil reserves, could be reduced to bread shortages, shows that vast resources are no guarantee of prosperity. Particularly when a country is ruled a government that is ideological, incompetent, and cruel.
