As the Economist puts it, “there is something rotten in the state of Venezuela”. According to the article Food fight: How to destroy an industry published by the Economist, there are more than 2,300 container-loads of decomposing food, imported by the government last year and never distributed. But Chávez instead of rethinking his position about the food and agriculture policy of Venezuela, he has declared a war against the private sector.

Why? For once, Mr. Chávez  claims that in Venezuela there is “hoarding and smuggling” by the private sector. Since 2003, the government has imposed price controls on many foodstuffs and since then the private sector has since faced mounting harassment.

On top of that, the government is stepping up expropriations of farms, food manufacturers and distributors, in a bid to achieve what it calls state “hegemony” over the food supply. On June 7th it announced the takeover of 18 more food companies accused of violating regulations. Unfortunately, most of the farms and food companies Chávez has expropriated suffer from inflated payrolls, declining productivity and rampant inefficiency. In the meantime, Venezuelans suffer hunger, a hunger that can hopefully crash Chávez´ hopes for the upcoming legislative election.