And so it begins. After shortages arising from price controls and the Government’s inefficient intervention into the food distribution chain, the new PDVSA owned PDVAL markets will have what effectively represents the introduction of rationing cards in Venezuela.
One can only ask the obvious: Where or what next?
Asdrubal Chavez, Vice-President of PDVSA and the President’s cousin (of course), announced that in the planned network of large (PDVAL) and smaller markets (PDVALitos) run by the PDVSA subsidiary, they will keep a register of all purchases, limiting purchases to once a day. Moreover, they have done the studies of how much food a family may need and purchases will be limited to those amounts. They will have a “file card” (read rationing card) to register purchases so as to avoid repeats and people exceeding the limits.
There are 26 PDVALs and 20 PDVALitos, but the Government plans to have about 180 and 2,000 of each by the end of the year. The PDVAL network will be separate from the existing Mercal network.
You have to love the creativity of the revolution as they reinvent failed concepts and as they fail, improve on them to emphasize their failed aspects. Ayn Rand would have been so proud of them, as they fit her descriptions so well!
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