"Venezuelan army occupies white goods shops as punishment for 'profiteering'
Amid galloping inflation and shortages, the Venezuelan government has sent its army to occupy electronics stores that it accuses of profiteering.
Earlier this week long lines of shoppers queued overnight for a chance to get militarily enforced discounts on computers, plasma TVs and appliances. As a washer-dryer was wheeled out of the JVG store in Caracas for its buyer, the crowd of consumers chanted, "si se puede" (yes we can).
Warning in a televised speech that price controls will be increased in coming weeks, President Nicolás Maduro said: "We can't just close the businesses, the owners have to go to jail."
But the socialist government's intervention has raised fresh concerns about an economy that has 50% annual inflation and a currency black market that trades dollars at nine times the official rate. Amid constant price rises, people struggle with shortages of food, medical supplies and other necessities.
On Thursday Maduro announced the arrest of more than 100 "bourgeois" businessmen for alleged price-gouging. "They are barbaric, these capitalist parasites," the president thundered in the latest of his lengthy – and daily – speeches. "We have more than 100 of the bourgeoisie behind bars at the moment."
"
Venezuelan army occupies white goods shops as punishment for 'profiteering' | World news | The Guardian
but can't not to
Amid galloping inflation and shortages, the Venezuelan government has sent its army to occupy electronics stores that it accuses of profiteering.
Earlier this week long lines of shoppers queued overnight for a chance to get militarily enforced discounts on computers, plasma TVs and appliances. As a washer-dryer was wheeled out of the JVG store in Caracas for its buyer, the crowd of consumers chanted, "si se puede" (yes we can).
Warning in a televised speech that price controls will be increased in coming weeks, President Nicolás Maduro said: "We can't just close the businesses, the owners have to go to jail."
But the socialist government's intervention has raised fresh concerns about an economy that has 50% annual inflation and a currency black market that trades dollars at nine times the official rate. Amid constant price rises, people struggle with shortages of food, medical supplies and other necessities.
On Thursday Maduro announced the arrest of more than 100 "bourgeois" businessmen for alleged price-gouging. "They are barbaric, these capitalist parasites," the president thundered in the latest of his lengthy – and daily – speeches. "We have more than 100 of the bourgeoisie behind bars at the moment."
"
Venezuelan army occupies white goods shops as punishment for 'profiteering' | World news | The Guardian
but can't not to
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