Venezuela's response to shortages increasingly militarized (July 13, 2016)

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is turning to the military to help combat the country's increasing food shortages. 

Yesterday he announced the creation of the Great Mission of Sovereign Supply, which will be headed by Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino. As part of the initiative, control of the country's five biggest ports was handed over to the military yesterday, reports the Associated Press.

It means yet more power for the armed forces, which already are involved state-run food import companies, the country's largest bank, television station and state-run mining company, according to the Wall Street Journal. Under the new system, all ministries and state institutions will be at the service of the mission. The move minimizes the influence of other government officials, such as Vice President Aristóbulo Istúriz, Industry Minister Miguel Pérez Abad and other ministers who held various economic roles, according to the WSJ.

Food trucked directly to the country's poorest, largely under military supervision, is one of the measures already in place to combat shortages, reports Bloomberg. Opposition leaders say the trucks cater to government supporters. In the meantime, the government argues that looting is a tool used by its foes to undermine the administration.

The Venezuelan Observatory of Violence estimates there are more than ten incidents of looting each day, notes an Al Jazeera piece that goes in-depth on the shortages.

In an interview last week with NPR, WOLA's David Smilde notes the increasing scarcity of basic goods is exacerbating inequalities: the most affected are the population at the lowest socioeconomic levels, while a minority of the country's citizens with access to dollars are relatively unaffected.

The population is increasingly restless, according to a new study by the Venezuelan Observatory of Social Conflict, which found that protests in the first six months of this year increased by 24 percent over those in the same period of 2015.

The country's border with Colombia is officially closed, but contraband trucks -- some even escorted by Venezuelan National Guard soldiers -- about, according to an NPR piece. The border closure a year ago reversed the course of smuggled goods. Previously, government subsidized goods were smuggled from Venezuela to Colombia, where they were resold at a profit. Now the shortages have led to goods being smuggled from Colombia, where they can be obtained, and resold in Venezuela.

A TeleSUR piece reports on another initiative targeting shortages: agricultural communes. Though their leaders are determined to avoid the pitfalls that led to the failure of tens of thousands of communes under President Hugo Chavez's administration a decade ago, they face cash and infrastructure difficulties that undermine their attempts to counter Venezuela's production shortages.

On an international level, Venezuela is facing increasing pressure to reform. Mercosur countries have decided to postpone passing on the trade bloc's pro-tempore presidency to Venezuela, pending it's adoption of tariffs and commercial and legal rules, reports Folha de S. Paulo. But some Mercosur countries said Venezuela will have to make concrete gestures towards human rights and democracy in order to receive the presidency, according to MercoPress. Though Paraguay and Brazil are making these demands, all Mercosur countries are not in agreement, and Uruguay insists on handing over the presidency as scheduled. (See Monday's briefs.)

On another Venezuela note, the country's oil production has plunged, an anomaly at a point when most OPEC countries have increased production, according to CNN. As Venezuela's oil accounts for 96 percent of its exports, the declines could worsen the already dire currency shortage for vital imports.The International Energy Agency said output is down to 2.18 million barrels a day, down 240,000 barrels a day from a year earlier and the lowest since an oil workers' strike in February 2003, according to Bloomberg.

News Briefs

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• Mexico's ruling PRI named a young technocrat party president yesterday. Enrique Ochoa, a former government official and constitutional law professor, took office yesterday for three years, pledging party renewal and transparency. The move positions him as a potential candidate in the 2018 elections, according to the Wall Street Journal. With no clear candidate, Ochoa's test will be next year’s elections in the central state of Mexico, the home state of President Enrique Peña Nieto, and the states of Nayarit and Coahuila.

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• A New York Times series on memorable obituaries features that of Frida Kahlo, who died 62 years ago today. "...One of Mexico’s most important artists, understood the power of a selfie well before it became a pervasive part of popular culture. Kahlo’s paintings often shifted the viewer’s perspective beyond her self-portraits to offer personal and societal commentary, both subtle and overt."