Venezuela arrests looters, store bosses in 'economic war'

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Venezuela arrests looters, store bosses in 'economic war'

BY ANDREW CAWTHORNE
CARACAS Sun Nov 10, 2013 3:28pm EST

(Reuters) - President Nicolas Maduro's government announced arrests of both store managers and looters on Sunday as part of what it calls an "economic war" in Venezuela between the socialist state and unscrupulous businessmen.

In a major pre-Christmas offensive reminiscent of the late President Hugo Chavez's dramatic style, Maduro has sent soldiers to "occupy" one chain of electronics stores and inspectors into scores of others to check for price-gouging.

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However, scenes of looting on Saturday at a store belonging to the occupied electronics chain, Daka, have left many Venezuelans ashamed and fueled opposition claims that Maduro is stirring chaos rather than defending the poor.

Authorities announced that five managers, from the local Daka, JVG and Krash, would be prosecuted on charges of unjustified price hikes after importing products with dollars obtained at the official exchange rate of 6.3 bolivars.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/10/us-venezuela-economy-idUSBRE9A90G520131110

[mwrguy]

1. More "businessmen" doing a perp walk for gouging the people

Sounds good to me.

[Socialistlemur]

2. They were business people alright

Some of those arrested were members of a family which owned the Daka store chain. Their store in Valencia was looted, and the other four stores were taken over illegally by the military and sold off at arbitrary prices.

Because the store sells appliances which aren't under price control regulations, it isn't clear what is the legal basis to arrest this family, have their stores looted, and otherwise ruin them. According to what was published they are recent migrants, an Arab family which fled Middle East strife and settled in Venezuela. They also seemed to have had no access to subsidized government dollars, purchased their wares from wholesales who imported those goods mostly from China.

The rumour mill says these importers were boligarchs, that is the new class of oligarch chavista which uses connections to get the official rate dollar. But the government couldn't go after their own crooks, so they went after this Arab family.

There's another point: there was no investigation prior to this event, and the military shouldn't be used in this fashion. The event shows an utter disregard for the law and the justice system. And evidently there's going to be a huge appliance shortage and/or many stores will close and their owners will leave the country. So this night, which many compare to Krystalnacht, marks the end of Venezuela.

What comes next is a lawless and utterly chaotic entity which is likely to be more like Somalia. Because its evident that inflation will continue, the people will still face food shortages, there will be no toilet paper, and there is going to be a huge brain drain as smart Venezuelans leave that zany hell being created by Maduro and his Cuban handlers. I'd say that country is ruined, and it's likely to see a lot of death and repression in the next 12 months.

[Flatulo]

3. That's right, Mr. Maduro. Chase those evil capitalists away,

because, you know, it's been working out so well up til now.