Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Venezuela: shiny happy people. Or, not


Venezuela: Shiny happy people

The slogan of the government officer who refers to happy Venezuelans buying as necessary also implies that happiness can be reached very easily: going to the supermarket and buying as necessary. Anything else, thanks God, is superfluous

EL UNIVERSAL
Wednesday October 01, 2014  01:58 PM
Happy people who buy as necessary. That is Venezuela, according to the last definitions provided by government spokespersons. The assertion implies three things: Venezuelans are happy; Venezuelans buy; Venezuelans buy as necessary. All that is a vision of success, we infer, in socialism. For 16 years, all that Venezuelans have heard is that, whereas, in fact, they face the same mess, aggravated though, that has become Venezuela.

The slogan of the government officer who refers to happy Venezuelans buying as necessary also implies that happiness can be reached very easily: going to the supermarket and buying as necessary. Anything else, thanks God, is superfluous. If the concept of the government officer makes no room for the rest of the context of Venezuelans' life, perhaps the author of the spot is right. However, let's see which context needs to be discarded in order to state that Vice-Minister of Food Sovereignty, Yván Gil, is totally right.

First. You are happy because you buy what you need, when you need it, and as you please. This is the case in Managua, Buenos Aires or Quito, just to name a few of the happy flock. There, everything is available. Have a look at the websites of the newspapers of those countries and you will see no debate on shortage or scarcity. Thus, such a condition to be very happy only occurs in Venezuela.

Second. Please, check the news from Uruguay, Brazil or Paraguay; you will see that they are very unhappy indeed. They lack stuff which is available to everybody in Venezuela. They lack a mad inflation and they received reports on pricing each month in due time. They do not have problems at all with exchange rate and foreign currency, let alone unbridled black market. Poor guys! If all that were not enough, those people can walk with no problem at any time down their city streets without fearing that any criminal will approach them and send them straight to another galaxy, just to grab their mobile phones. Poor guys, really. They do not know what happiness means!

Third. Have a look at newspapers of Bolivia, Costa Rica or Guatemala. You will realize that these unhappy people do not stand in a line to buy milk or soap. Poor guys! They are completely clueless. Obviously, they lack a nice dose of 21st century socialism. Only in this way they will really enjoy happiness. In the meantime, they are just ordinary people, rather unhappy, more or less so.

Fourth. Please, review the ads in the press of Chile or Colombia. Plenty of cars; plenty of buildings; plenty of apartments; plenty of travel offers. Nothing like the Foreign Exchange Administration Board. Poor guys! They are really far away from being happy people, those who buy as necessary.

Shiny happy people can be found only in Venezuela.

erojas@eluniversal.com / Twitter: @ejrl

Translated by Conchita Delgado

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