123,000 Venezuelans cross border shopping for scarce food

[Bacchus4.0]

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/thousands-cross-venezuela-border-shopping-scarce-food-121334987.html



SAN ANTONIO DEL TACHIRA, Venezuela (AP) — More than 100,000 Venezuelans, some of whom drove through the night in caravans, crossed into Colombia over the weekend to hunt for food and medicine that are in short supply at home.

It was the second weekend in a row that Venezuela's socialist government opened the long-closed border with Colombia, and by 6 a.m. Sunday, a line of would-be shoppers snaked through the entire town of San Antonio del Tachira. Some had traveled in chartered buses from cities 10 hours away.

Venezuela's government closed all crossings a year ago to crack down on smuggling along the 1,378-mile (2,219 kilometer) border. It complained that speculators were causing shortages by buying up subsidized food and gasoline in Venezuela and taking them to Colombia, where they could be sold for far higher prices.

But shortages have continued to mount in Venezuela amid triple-digit inflation, currency controls that have restricted imports and investment and the world oil price slump that caused a collapse in the oil revenues that fund government spending.

[FBaggins]

1. Maduro's propaganda arm had interesting spin on the story

Reportedly, many returned home discouraged because the prices were so high in Columbia that they couldn't afford anything. The claim that this was because of a transport strike that was driving up prices.

Nowhere mentioned was the fact that the shoppers were unlikely to have dollars and the Venezuelan currency is worth nothing close to what the government says that it is.

Hmmm... I suppose I could have posted more efficiently by just placing the period after "nothing" and moving on.

[Marksman_91]

2. And yet many useful idiots in this site will eat that propaganda up

It's maddening

[Bacchus4.0]

3. Here is the story from Telesur, the gov funded rag

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Venezuela-Opens-Border-Again-but-Many-Return-Empty-Handed-20160718-0005.html

The story cites "exorbitant prices" which may be true given the worthless Bolivar but that's the fault of chavistas.

[FBaggins]

4. Exactly

And that's just the propaganda outlet that I was thinking of.

The story cites "exorbitant prices"

Yep. There's even this:

Governor Vielma Mora had warned that many Venezuelans would be disappointed once they realized the prices of goods in neighboring Colombia.

Note that Mora leaves it with a hint that those darn Colombians just have prices that are too high... not that Venezuela's "leader" (sic) has run the currency into the ground.

[COLGATE4]

5. All of this is those damned Colombians' fault,

according to some here on DU.

[Bacchus4.0]

6. Yes, and they weren't disappointed Colombia has plenty of products nt