As Venezuela starves, its military traffics food
Already wracked by runaway inflation and shortages of everything from beer to diapers, toilet paper to batteries, Venezuela's misery has been compounded by its own military, an Associated Press investigation reveals. After Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro gave the military authority to manage the South American nation's food supply, soldiers began trafficking the food to collect corrupt profits while their compatriots face starvation.
"Lately, food is a better business than drugs," explains retired Venezuelan Gen. Cliver Alcala. "The military is in charge of food management now, and they're not going to just take that on without getting their cut." The money-making scheme involves soldiers of every rank, AP found, with troops selling basics like corn flour at late-night black markets with massive mark-ups over the socialist government's price controls.
Shopkeepers desperate to put something on their shelves have played along as state interference with food imports keeps much-needed supplies waiting in boats offshore for weeks on end. And the decision to place the military in control of the food assured Maduro's increasingly hated government a degree of security: Where once a military-assisted coup may have been brewing, troops are now satisfied their families will be fed even as Venezuela more broadly continues to suffer.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
-
Roasted squash and apple soup recipeThe Week Recommends Autumnal soup is full of warming and hearty flavours
-
Ukraine: Donald Trump pivots againIn the Spotlight US president apparently warned Volodymyr Zelenskyy to accept Vladimir Putin’s terms or face destruction during fractious face-to-face
-
Autumn Budget: will Rachel Reeves raid the rich?Talking Point To fill Britain’s financial black hole, the Chancellor will have to consider everything – except an income tax rise
-
Warner Bros. explores sale amid Paramount bidsSpeed Read The media giant, home to HBO and DC Studios, has received interest from multiple buying parties
-
Gold tops $4K per ounce, signaling financial uneaseSpeed Read Investors are worried about President Donald Trump’s trade war
-
Electronic Arts to go private in record $55B dealspeed read The video game giant is behind ‘The Sims’ and ‘Madden NFL’
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fineSpeed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in IntelSpeed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to ChinaSpeed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with DisneySpeed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B dealSpeed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
