From Venezuela’s government propaganda, a news organ called Venezuelan Global News reports meat shortages in Caracas, calling attention to a problem that obviously is being discussed in the streets by Venezuela’s poor, a topic Venezuela’s private-sector media, or at least the mainstream English-language media, may have missed. This is the first I have heard of this shortage.

The meat reportedly in short supply is pork legs, used in the making of Venezuelan Christmas hallacas (we’d recognize that as a tamale over here), a traditional Christmas food.

Although I had not seen any reports of pork shortages in the press, the government made a big production of denying the reports, insisting there was adequate pork supply, “at least in some popular markets,” not a very assuring statement. But amid these shortages that the government insists do not exist, it also addressed the issue of prices, and it had much more to say. Here, for instance, is what they had to say about meat producers:

…most times, the price difference lies in the producers, not in the final merchants. Undoubtedly, this indicates that the slaughterhouses take advantage of the occasion to increase the costs.

All the problems in the past have been overcome.

???????You can find all the products for the Christmas dinner in Mercal????????s shelves, even pork legs. There was a rumor in the supermarkets that there were not pork legs, but during our investigation, we could confirm that there was pork leg supply, at least in some popular markets. The pork leg????????s price should not exceed 5,000 Bs (without bone) and 4,000 Bs (with bone), that is, USD 2.32 and USD 1.86 respectively.

This year, the problem is not about finding pork legs because there is pork leg supply in the country. The problem lies in the price; for instance, supermarkets usually increase the prices of the pork leg and other ingredients of the Christmas dish because of the comfort they provide.

Some vegetables used for the stew of the hallaca ???????? such as paprika, onion, sweet peppers, among others ???????? experienced an increased of 30% in comparison with last year. Thanks to the investigation, we could confirm that the prices in municipal markets and supermarkets are in accordance with the price regulation: 2,200 Bs (USD 1).

Notice that the government also blamed businesses and not government price controls for various rises in prices around the city. It ‘knows’ producers’ ‘motivations’ and assures its readers that all problems are now overcome. In the government’s simple logic, if producers are raising prices, there is some kind of problem with the chain of supply. That problem very well has to do with government prices controls. But more to the point, if there are price controls, there damn well will be shortages and lines. Just think of Jimmy Carter’s 1980 gas lines, something brought on by that exact dynamic. Now imagine it writ large by an admirer of Fidel Castro, anxious to turn his country into a Cuban-style dictatorship.

Along with coffee shortages, there are now meat shortages in Venezuela, from agricultural sector battered by price controls and its retailers battered by unfair competition from the government. It’s no surprise that this is happening. One other important detail: a cattle expert in Caracas told me that Castro’s Cubans have very definitely taken over Venezuela’s Ministry of Agriculture and make all essential decisions.

The results speak for themselves.