As Americans, we tend to take for granted walking into a supermarket and being able to find nearly everything we need when we get there. It’s something that not everyone in the world can relate to, though. Back in November, I blogged about Boris Yeltsin’s first visit to an American supermarket in the ’80s and what a turning point it was for him — he said “When I saw those shelves crammed with hundreds, thousands of cans, cartons and goods of every possible sort, for the first time I felt quite frankly sick with despair for the Soviet people.”
If you’re not aware of the current situation in Venezuela, it too will make you take pause and give thanks for the freedoms, choices, and yes, shopping options we continue to enjoy in the United States.
I read an article at Bloomberg on the collapse of Venezuela’s economy. Most of their grocery stores are state-run, and the product shortages are so rampant that the government is limiting shoppers to two visits per week. Lines stretch for miles down the streets as people wait to get into stores.
When shoppers arrive, they often find bare shelves, because the demand for groceries far exceeds what’s available to stock. According to one reporter, “After several fights broke out, Venezuela outlawed waiting in line overnight for groceries. Think about that for a moment. Venezuelans are not allowed to take pictures of long grocery store lines… can be banned from stores.”
The Associated Press posted video of people waiting in lines to get into a grocery store:
In this video, a shipment of frozen chickens arrived at the store, and it looks like a Black Friday-esque scene as shoppers tried to get the chickens:
Twitchy.com, a site that aggregates what’s trending on Twitter each day, has a sobering roundup of photos and Tweets from Venezuelans using the hashtag #AnaquelesVaciosEnVenezuela (Empty Shelves in Venezuela.) Take a look at some of them. It’s an incredibly sad situation.
letsshop says
They should stop having so many kids !