- The land reforms
- What is CLAP
- What are the allegations of the opposition
- What are the allegations of the government
How bad the food shortage in the country really is remains difficult to judge. In Venezuela about 31 million people live on about 900,000 square kilometers (353,841 square miles). Assessing the situation throughout the country is therefore only possible with great effort.
The land reforms
Land reforms were announced early in the Chavez era. Land should be given to the poor to grow food. [4] [5]Between 1998 and 2011 calorie demand per capita in Venezuela increased by 45 % and the population grew by 25 %. Thus the total demand for calories in Venezuela grew by 81 %. However grain production increased by only 50 % between 1998 and 2011. And overall food production increased by only 22 % between 2002 and 2009.
From 2003 to 2015 5.8 million hectares of land were redistributed. Nevertheless only 3 of the 27 million hectares were used in 2015 for agriculture in Venezuela. And even before the fall of the oil price food imports rose sharply while exports of food fell dramatically. [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
What is CLAP
On April 3, 2016, President Nicolas Maduro (Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela/PSUV) announced the launch of CLAP. CLAP stands for Local Committees for Supply and Production (Comite Local de Abastecimiento y Produccion/CLAP). This is a government-organized program to provide the population with the necessities. And according to the Ministry of Food 9,294 branches have been established throughout Venezuela. The packages distributed by CLAP contain everyday necessities e.g. flour, pasta, sugar, coffee, oil or butter. [11] [12] [13]US journalists Abby Martin and Max Blumenthal have also fueled the debate by filming full shelves in supermarkets. But with CLAP the government has de facto admitted that there are at least some food shortages. If all people in Venezuela had proper access to food and there was no food shortage, then the program would not exist. [14] [15] [16]
What are the allegations of the opposition
However the CLAP program is regularly criticized. The packages of CLAP allegedly have some deficiencies as well. According to the British Guardian in August 2017 8 % of children were underserved. [17] [18]Felipe Perez Marti former head of planning for Hugo Chavez's first cabinet accused the government at the beginning of 2017 that the military was keeping the goods from the CLAP program to themselves. Marti has claimed that only 20 % goes to the population and 80 % is withheld by the military. However it is questionable if such dramatic numbers are credible. [18] [19]
Former attorney general Luisa Ortega Diaz asserted in August 2018 at a MERCOSUR summit that President Maduro (Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela/PSUV) is allegedly the owner of the company (Group Grand Limited) in Mexico which is the state's distributor of food from the country CLAP program. Luisa Ortega Diaz was released from the constituent assembly after criticizing the convening of the Constituent Assembly and accusing the police of using excessive force against the protests. [20] [21] [22] [22 archive] [23] [24] [25]
What are the allegations of the government
The government and those who defend it accuse companies over and over again to completely or at least partially withholding food from the free market. In fact there were already such incidents. In one case in February 2016 in the region of Miranda 55 people were arrested. They are said to have sold food on the black market at increased prices. [26]In another case in December 2017 180 people were arrested in the region Pariata (Vargas). They are said to have hoarded more than 30 tons of food from the CLAP program. [27]
[1] Venezuelans face collapsing economy, starvation and crime 2016-06-21
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/venezuelans-face-collapsing-economy-starvation-and-crime
[2] Unemployment rate
https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/LUR@WEO/OEMDC/ADVEC/WEOWORLD/VEN
[3] Maduros letztes Öl-Juwel 2019-01-31
https://www.dw.com/de/maduros-letztes-%C3%B6l-juwel/a-47294946
[4] Venezuela land reform gets going 2005-04-29
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4498293.stm
[5] Venezuela to speed up land reform 2005-09-26
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4282672.stm
[6] Clash of Hope and Fear as Venezuela Seizes Land 2007-05-17
https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/17/world/americas/17venezuela.html
[7] Why Hasn’t Land Reform in Venezuela Done Much More to Boost Production? 2014-07-14
https://www.telesurenglish.net/opinion/Why-Hasnt-Land-Reform-in-Venezuela-Done-Much-More-to-Boost-Production-20140801-0042.html
[8] This Land Was Your Land 2015-11-13
https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/11/13/this-land-was-your-land-venezuela-land-reform-chavez-maduro/
[9] What does Venezuela import? (1995-2016)
http://atlas.media.mit.edu/wluxr2
[10] What does Venezuela export? (1995-2016)
http://atlas.media.mit.edu/2z8etf
[11] Lea el Decreto de Estado de Excepción y de la Emergencia Económica publicado en Gaceta Oficial 2016-05-16
http://prodavinci.com/2016/05/16/actualidad/lea-el-decreto-de-estado-de-excepcion-y-de-la-emergencia-economica-publicado-en-gaceta-oficial-monitorprodavinci-2/
[12] Éstas son las nuevas atribuciones de los CLAP, según el Decreto de Estado de Excepción 2016-05-17
http://prodavinci.com/2016/05/17/actualidad/estas-son-las-nuevas-atribuciones-de-los-clap-segun-el-decreto-de-estado-de-excepcion/
[13] How ‘food apartheid’ is punishing some Venezuelans 2016-12-10
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/12/10/venezuelas-food-apartheid-is-leaving-some-people-hungry/
[14] Empire Files: Abby Martin in Venezuela - Supermarkets to Black Markets 2017-06-11
https://youtu.be/YUYWrPiUeWY
[15] Investigating Venezuela's 'humanitarian crisis': Max Blumenthal tours a supermarket in Caracas 2019-02-21
https://youtu.be/mbXqGiNlWWw
[16] The real humanitarian aid: Inside Venezuela’s state-subsidized communal markets 2019-02-24
https://youtu.be/qlX3yfXNX_g
[17] Hunger eats away at Venezuela’s soul as its people struggle to survive 2017-08-27
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/26/nicolas-maduro-donald-trump-venezuela-hunger
[18] A un año de los CLAP se entregan bolsas incompletas y con menos kilos 2017-03-12
http://elestimulo.com/elinteres/a-un-ano-de-los-clap-se-entregan-bolsas-incompletas-y-con-menos-kilos/
[19] Felipe Pérez: Militares se quedan con 80% de las importaciones de los CLAP 2017-01-04
http://elestimulo.com/elinteres/felipe-perez-militares-se-quedan-con-80-de-las-importaciones-de-los-clap/
[20] Maduro sería dueño de empresa mexicana distribuidora de los CLAP 2017-08-23
http://www.el-nacional.com/noticias/politica/maduro-seria-dueno-empresa-mexicana-distribuidora-los-clap_200140
https://www.dw.com/en/venezuela-constitutional-assembly-fires-chief-prosecutor/a-39973289
[21] Venezuela’s ex-prosecutor Luisa Ortega accuses Maduro of profiting from nation’s hunger 2017-08-23
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/venezuela/article168977357.html
[22] Venezuela's ousted prosecutor accuses Maduro of corruption 2017-08-23
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/brazils-chief-prosecutor-institutional-rape-venezuela-49376967
http://web.archive.org/web/20170824001526/http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/brazils-chief-prosecutor-institutional-rape-venezuela-49376967
[23] Venezuela’s top prosecutor Luisa Ortega Diaz rebukes Supreme Court power grab 2017-04-15
https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/venezuelas-top-prosecutor-luisa-ortega-diaz-rebukes-supreme-court-power-grab/article34548004/
[24] Venezuela government turns on 'traitor' prosecutor Ortega 2017-06-09
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-politics-prosecutor/venezuela-government-turns-on-traitor-prosecutor-ortega-idUSKBN1902Q
[25] Venezuela constitutional assembly fires chief prosecutor 2017-08-05
https://www.dw.com/en/venezuela-constitutional-assembly-fires-chief-prosecutor/a-39973289
[26] Suspects in Food Corruption Ring Case 2016-02-16
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Venezuela-Arrests-55-Suspects-in-Food-Corruption-Ring-Case-20160216-0007.html
[27] Detienen 180 personas por desvío de productos en Venezuela 2017-12-13
https://www.telesurtv.net/news/Gobierno-venezolano-detiene-a-180-personas-por-desvio-de-productos-20171213-0074.html