In the latest move by the Maduro Government, the Vice-Presidency for the Supreme Social Happiness of of the Venezuelan people was created this week. While many have laughed at the idea, I disagree. I think this office was badly needed and will play an important role in celebrating life in Venezuela and making its citizens happy.
While there have been no details as to what the office will do, I can think of so many ways that it can celebrate and promote the happiness of all Venezuelans, particularly by pointing out happy events around the country, of which there are so many.
As an example, the Vice-Ministry could make sure to interview on TV anyone who managed to buy a package of corn flour, which has become one of the supreme moments of any Venezuelan’s life in the the last few months. And even if you think that finding toilet paper is another such happy moment, the Vice-Ministry could celebrate not only the finding of the roll of toilet paper by those citizens that lacked it, but more importantly recreate the moment of supreme happiness that represents using it for the first time after not having any for a while.
Since happiness is relative, imagine how happy someone that survives an express kidnapping is, another area where the Vice-Ministry is likely to have a strong participation.
It is unclear what the budget for the Vice-Ministry is, but there is some overlap in what it will do. For example, if you manage to get a new passport, should that be paid by the new Ministry, given the happiness that the moment will provide, or should it still be paid by the Ministry of the Interior? Same with Cadivi. If you get your foreign currency for travel, given the happiness that this induces in you and your family, should it come out of Cadivi’s budget or the Vice-Ministry?
The range and scope of the new office is so wide, that eventually the Vice Ministry may become the Government, since the role of Government is essentially to try to make the population happy. The danger however, is that the Vice-Ministry may one day join the opposition when it realizes that nothing will make the people happier than the departure of Chavismo from Government.
The Devil's Excrement 
November 18, 2013 at 3:22 pm
news information wp.pl
November 9, 2013 at 1:08 pm
[…] new Venezuelan Ministry for Supreme Happiness seems unlikely to help unless it plans to disband the Government and deport all Cuban […]
November 4, 2013 at 4:13 pm
Religion, spiritual
November 1, 2013 at 7:28 pm
JAJAJAJA ….good sarcastic shit in this one……Seriously who thinks up this insanity? Maduro? Celia? TIbisay?? Someone must be behind this excellent way to siphon more money away from where it is needed…The “pajarito” must have been singing to someone…!!
November 1, 2013 at 7:29 pm
Sorry the “s” is right below the “w”…..Please edit.. : (
October 30, 2013 at 1:15 pm
Clearly an strategy to deviate public opinion from the real economic problems of the country. Even though I completely oppose the government, I reckon they are really good at creating “pan y circo” .
October 29, 2013 at 9:10 am
People have to be particularly naive to believe this rubbish that claims to accurately measure happiness.It is all political BS.There are so many factors that would skew the results that it is hopeless to even begin- starting from how one perceives happiness, with concomitant cultural differences, to choices, to one’s values in admitting the truth and sharing that truth with others.
October 29, 2013 at 11:03 am
firepiggette,
The point is that Chavismo is not measuring happiness but they are defining and dictating happiness. They will decide what creates happiness. No opinion surveys or other sources of error will be considered.
Of course, happiness for Maduro and high-level Chavistas will be based solely on how much they can steal from the country.
October 28, 2013 at 12:43 pm
Top candidates to the happy ministry:
1. jorge rodriguez (a happy go lucky funny man)
2. jose vicente rangel (he has a pristine aura, such a happy fellow)
3. izarra (hyena laughing king)
October 28, 2013 at 12:25 am
Half of Venezuelans would be happier if Chavez alive and be trialed some day.
October 28, 2013 at 9:47 am
Happiness increased for 99.9% of people on the planet. Nasty dictators, drug kingpins, and those on the Chavez dole had their happiness decline slightly. They knew Maduro was coming.
October 27, 2013 at 6:04 pm
Well, I know there was an almost 50% increase in happiness when Hugo dropped dead.
October 27, 2013 at 5:58 pm
I can’t remember which country it is:
Somewhere in Asia, or Mircronesia, there’s a country that ranks happiness as part of its GDP, or something like that.
But they’re actually successful at it.
There was a 60 Minutes piece or similar on the subject, and it was fascinating. Like, they would balance tearing down forestry against its impact on the happiness of the people living near there.
Sound familiar to anyone here?
October 28, 2013 at 3:15 am
Sure: Bhutan
but:
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/05/14/bhutan.cable/
October 27, 2013 at 12:55 pm
Fausta’s Blog has linked the Devil’s article on the Happiness Ministry, and has also linked to another article of interest: How Venezuela’s Military Tried to Fly A Ton of Cocaine to France.
So it was a sting from the beginning. It is not a surprise the sting was done without giving any knowledge of the operation to the Venezuelan government, given the involvement of certain government officials in narcotrafficing. The European authorities should know which Venezuelan government officials were involved. It would appear that they have not passed this information onto Venezuelan authorities, if those who were arrested in Venezuela were “pure window dressing.”
October 27, 2013 at 4:46 pm
What I found amazing is how the regime started to “shoot down” cocaine-laden air planes when all this got discovered.
October 30, 2013 at 5:50 pm
the last sentenced is flawed. Hundreds of millions did not exchange hands. This is wholesale cocaine thus you calculate using wholesale price ‘delivered at terminal’ Ccs or ‘landed Europe’. This load did not pass the USD $50 million IMO. The amount of dollars that changed hands is between 10 and 15 million IMO.
October 27, 2013 at 11:07 am
I think that it is a sick exercise in upmanship; the US Constitution gives the freedom to seek happiness and Maduro gives Venezuelans the means, no, the guarantee to reach it.
George Orwell would have loved it, and the much vaunted Cuban drug industry will provide the Soma pills.
October 27, 2013 at 3:01 am
Roy is right
October 26, 2013 at 6:57 pm
Sounds like something out of North Korea. lol
October 26, 2013 at 12:50 pm
The issue is that Chavismo wants to control happiness. They will determine what makes Venezuelans happy and all people must comply. As in North Korea, as Carolina says, Venezuelans will learn to smile when Maduro makes a motion.
Arepas, toilet paper, a free press, and no traffic apparently are not on the official list of items that give happiness to the Pueblo.
In no way is the new Ministry of Happiness meant to let people decide what constitutes happiness. One less freedom. The U.S. Constitution guarantees freedom of the pursuit of happiness. Maybe Maduro’s hate for the U.S. made him go the other way.
October 26, 2013 at 12:05 pm
One of the tactics in Chavez’s playbook was to do things that were absurd or clownish. By doing this, he got himself painted in the international press as “crazy, but harmless”. Think about it… Which will the casual reader recall longer? Crackdowns on press freedoms, or the creation of a Happiness Ministry?
October 26, 2013 at 11:49 am
I’m out of words with this.
I feel like I’m watching a play of Moliere, but adapted by Corin Tellado. Absurd with corny to its max. Not sure if it’s funny or sad.
Add to the mix images from North Korea, where everything is so perfect, everybody smiling, everybody controlled.
October 26, 2013 at 10:56 am
Otra pa’ los greatest hits de Nico Maduro. Pero el #1 sigue siendo:
October 26, 2013 at 6:42 am
And yet the Venezuelan people are often rated as among the happiest people on the planet:
http://www.happyplanetindex.org/countries/venezuela/
Oddly, this was initiated by Chavez a year ago:
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/Latin-America-Monitor/2012/1029/Venezuela-prioritizes-happiness-in-its-national-budget
Now any other country we might actually be intrigued by a high level government vice ministry, but because Venezuela has become epidemically incompetent in administering anything, expect Venezuela’s happiness to go down. Which may actually be a good thing, since that might cause the people to end this dozen years of mismanagement. Seriously: Crime way up, but still happy. Inflation way up, but still happy. Can’t buy Arena Pan and toilet paper, but still happy. Venezuela has a remarkable resilience that allows them to stay positive–in fact the second highest levels in the world according to Gallup:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/159254/latin-americans-positive-world.aspx
Anyone know who this Vice Minister of Happiness is? His name is Rafael Rios and his real task apparently is coordinating the 30 Missions. You know the ones that improved health, literacy, food distribution, micro-economic initiatives, and who can even remember them all?
October 29, 2013 at 9:02 am
Whether or not we perceive ourselves as happy or as unhappy has more to do with ego identification than with any accurate measurement.And much less can we accurately compare ourselves to others on this issue.Any polling on that level will have only political manipulation in mind.
October 25, 2013 at 10:42 pm
I thought you were joking about the name, but nope: Viceministerio para la Suprema felicidad social del pueblo venezolano.
Orwellian doublespeak. Straight out of Stalinist USSR in the 1930s or Maoist China in the 1950s. These people are going backwards.
October 30, 2013 at 5:05 pm
What about DPRK? It’s straight out of their playbook. Checkout the VICE special on the Denis Rodman visit to North Korea.
October 30, 2013 at 5:20 pm
Checkout HBO VICE “Inside North Korea” [2010] and “The Hermit Kingdom.” [2013]. It’s the best HD footage I have seen. References to ‘happiness’ everywhere
October 25, 2013 at 9:40 pm
The ministry is going to prove that MONEY can not buy happiness. But the government can give it for FREE.
October 25, 2013 at 5:10 pm
ROFL’ing. Too funny.
October 25, 2013 at 4:52 pm
If they put Drugs in the Harina PAN that might work but, then they would need more and more Harina PAN!
October 25, 2013 at 4:40 pm
Pretty soon we’ll have the Ministry of crazy walks like the one shown in Monty Python! from the sublime to the ridiculous!
October 25, 2013 at 3:18 pm
Just to illustrate your point here are a bunch of people graciously sharing some bags of Arena PAN.
Well worth a look.
The Happiness ministry has a lot of work to do.
October 25, 2013 at 6:42 pm
My wife flipped when she saw that.
And yesterday, she bought two bags for $1.50 each at Wal-Mart—and they only had about 5,000 bags still available for sale.
October 28, 2013 at 8:40 am
Damn. At least in Cuba they wait PATIENTLY in line.
October 29, 2013 at 10:02 pm
I’m sending copies of this photo to relatives in Caracas, so they can sell it like they sell photos of the Dali Lama in Tibet:
[img]http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3833/10567358426_6d741cd8ea_o.jpg[/img]
October 29, 2013 at 10:03 pm
October 25, 2013 at 12:14 pm
Luis Herrera would be so proud. In his goverment he had a Minister for developing intelligence. (Ministerio para el Desarrollo de la Inteligencia)
October 25, 2013 at 4:38 pm
The man has allowed the position to go to his head. He’s in a state of euphoria. He will have to be carried away in a straight jacket and interned in Barbula.
October 25, 2013 at 12:09 pm
Probably this was an excellent idea of Jose Arcadio Buendia, the founding patriarch of Macondo. (One Hundred Years of Solicitude…)
October 25, 2013 at 11:54 am
I would venture to say that the only one experiencing moments of supreme happiness may be the one appointed this ministery, each and every time they checked the balance of their offshore account.
October 25, 2013 at 11:47 am
Standing ovation!!!! Clap clap clap clap…
October 30, 2013 at 8:39 pm
Nothing done by a Communist regime is meaningless.
This Department will coordinate all missions, already in decline.
This decline may not be perceived when the benefit receiver turns his head with hope to this Deputy Minister who is to coordinate al the “Misiones” and will be he who will rectify the errors.
It will only run the wrinkle but in politics, in a pre-election period, that gives relief to the this ruinous venezuelan government.
If not, why at this time the PSUV has that margin of acceptance ?
That is aimed at the “depauperados” who only have illusion and nothing to loose…!