More evidence of Chavez’s failings

Recently at IPN we talked about the misguided policies of Hugo Chavez’s regime and why Oliver Stone was so dreadfully wrong to recommend them for the US. Since then, there have been further  illustrations of just how badly Venezuela’s economic system is performing.

Thor Halvorssen informs us that Venezuela’s “disastrous food policy”, combined with electricity rationing, has led to a shocking 120,000 tons of food being left to rot at Puerto Cabello, a recently-nationalised port near Venezuela’s capital. Meanwhile the attempt by the Venezuelan government to provide food for the poor has been predictably corrupted by those within the political elite. Ricardo Fernandez, a businessman with close ties to the Chavez family, is estimated to have amassed a personal fortune over $1.5bn through the state-owned food chain, Mercal. And Fernandez is just one example of corruption that has become a way of life throughout Venezuela. Chavez claims to be establishing “21st-century socialism”, but the results are already proving as disastrous as its twentieth-century predecessor.  

Problems of this type are not unique to Venezuela, but are common to any country with a planned, socialist economy. This is inevitable when politics and economics become too closely intertwined. Without market mechanisms and the information they discover and disseminate, the people in charge are blind to the real needs of consumers and workers and vulnerable to corruption by special interests.

Evidently concerned that Venezuelans are becoming dissatisfied with his regime, Chavez continues to tighten his grip on the media and eliminate opposition to his rule. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Left-of-centre politicians- such as the former president of Chile, Michele Bachelet- can accept the institutions of the free market and the need for fiscal responsibility, while at the same time advancing the causes of social liberalism and social justice. Chile now has one of the best performing and richest economies in South America.

If Hugo Chavez wants to be a truly progressive leader, he should look there for guidance instead of continuing his “experiment” in South American socialism at the expense of his people.