“The products in the bag vary from fruit to vegetables to greens,” reads a pizza shop beside a farm in a poor neighborhood of Caracas.
The food bags from the CLAP (Committee on Poverty Reduction and Productive Areas) program are controversial because the Venezuelan government offers them at a subsidized price, raising long-standing questions about their quality and reimbursement.
“There were some very poor quality ones. One day I was like, ‘(…) Spring and Autumn, and sometimes I’m like, ‘ American Voss Judit de Machado, 70, is at the front of the mobile list, exchanging different varieties of supplemental food for one tomato and a small amount of apple.
Read more: What is CLAP and why did EEUU become in charge of Venezuela?
De Machado both praises and questions the quality of the food imposed by the government, calling it “essential” in times of crisis.
Just then, my wife, wanting food and drink for our 5-year-old son, said, “We sin and take an oath to them,” claiming that without embargoes, these products are “so attractive and tempting that they will never come to our house.”
One day, I wrote, “(…) Like spring and autumn, like Telangana.”
Like her, others stop in front of the road, run, then keep going… soon returning to the main shopping cart in the spring that emerged from her house. Everything is transformed into one.
Under the sun, fruits such as pineapples, bananas, aguacates, sanafolia and yucca grow.
“I can’t eat it,” says Maria Acosta, 67, as she takes Venezuelan plato-type arepas and packs them in bags, wearing gloves for premature babies.
I did this exercise at first, but I had been consuming food at home for a while now.
“In my house, I went from washing 500 grams of hummingbirds to washing 5 kilos of hummingbirds (…)”
Yesterday, Acosta offered for sale 20 bags of 1 kilogram of malt for the equivalent of $1.
“A lot of people buy these bags because they need them,” Carmen Pérez explained, leaving me to collect them.
This was before a long period of inflation and the continued depreciation of the national currency, the bolivar, raised the cost of living in the country and led to low interest rates.
CLAP’s wallets and purses come amid a deep economic crisis that began in 2016 under the government of President Nicolás Maduro, a country with a history of inflation and recession, forcing the country’s social indicators to fall.
The programs are primarily targeted at vulnerable populations and have been subject to allegations of fraud.
These bags, at the bottom of the case, contain four kilos of hedgehogs, a kilo of fish, several kilos of pasta and three sardine breasts. Not for free. Judith and Maria stole 35 bolivars (the equivalent of $1), and Carmen, 65, stole a few dollars.
The head of the regional communal council, Alexander Diaz, blamed social politicians in Maduro’s government.
“All the months were spent carrying out social activities (…) It is clear that the state is attacking our money, that the person is not allowed to quarrel to satisfy those needs, that it is the government’s responsibility, but in reality, the assertion that ‘this is a war of robbers who have invaded from outside’ is part of the official discourse.”
The public sector minimum salary is 130 bolivars per month. One cent is equivalent to $3.50. For example, one kilo of badges costs $3.88. The median salary in the private sector is much higher, at $210 a month, but it’s not enough to cover food costs.
“So that people can eat the food of the day again.”
Last week, Oscar Cáceres traveled eight hours from the town of Trujillo to the capital, Caracas, where he sold prostitutes. When you upload a CLAP recipe, the conversion happens at the same time.
We have devised a strategy to become a seller because some people don’t have the money to cooperate with their peers and we see it as a benefit.
Within a week, a moderate weight of this product (1,000 kilograms) was collected.
“I had a friend who bought 20 kilos of Sako for $5 and received exactly what I bought. There is nothing in CLAP products.” VOAMy life as a working farmer is over.
“I learned that Gano is my business… I came up with a strategy to increase sales power because some people don’t have the money to collaborate with their peers, and we were able to reap the benefits of this,” he explained.
Caselas says people often choose this option because “the food of the day gives people energy.”
“Venezuela is a French nation and at the forefront of global nutritional goals,” said Susana Rafalli, food security and integrity specialist at ONG Caritas in Venezuela. The issue has six million users, one of which boasts a similar level of security in Africa. From a nutritional point of view, the recovery is absolute.”
“Limosuna caritativa.”
“We will respect the human dignity of our beneficiaries, will not be vulnerable to political clientelism, will not ignore the serious causes of hunger and malnutrition in Venezuela, and will adhere to norms on malnutrition,” Michael Fakhri, the UN rapporteur on malnutrition in Venezuela, said in a February 24 statement from CLAP.
According to certified testimony, experts have cited irregular behavior in the administration of the program, including sporadic abuse, nutritional deficiencies, cessation of benefits for CLAP directors in the area, and discrimination against politically motivated intervention.
“Some beneficiaries have found that their CLAP benefits are treated as part of their charity and not as part of their emancipation,” the experts said.
Since 2017, the Venezuelan Organization for Transparency (ONG) has received more than 800 accusations related to irregularities regarding the functioning of the CLAP program, including the use of food bags with praise, faulty products, food recalls, prohibited direct debits and electoral violations.
Government promotion includes protein
In March, Maduro promised to step up the program and launched a promotion to top up protein in wallets.
“For 60 days, we will continue to protect our pork, our fish, our pork and our salt,” said an official during one activity celebrating the creation of the social contribution program.
“If you clap, the chorus (Phila) war will stop,” he shouts.
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