Venezuela’s Socialists Embrace Business, Making Partner of a ‘Parasite’. Decades of socialist-style control devastated the economy. Now, capitalism is back, helping

New York Times ^ | February 23, 2020 | Anatoly Kurmanaev

[karpov]

CARACAS, Venezuela — As Venezuela tumbled deeper into economic crisis in 2017 and its people searched for a way out, one name kept coming up: Lorenzo Mendoza.

The family name is universally known in Venezuela. Empresas Polar, the food conglomerate started by Mr. Mendoza’s grandfather, had grown into the country’s largest private company. Its corn meal, used to make the national dish, was in every pantry, and its beer a welcome part of social gatherings.

As President Nicolás Maduro’s disastrous economic policies set off food shortages and a refugee crisis, Mr. Mendoza emerged as an outspoken critic of his administration and its persecution of the private sector.

Polished and eloquent, Mr. Mendoza also offered a stark contrast to the gruff president. His popularity was such that pollsters measured him against Mr. Maduro in mock presidential matchups.

Then, suddenly, Mr. Mendoza disappeared from public view, and Mr. Maduro stopped calling him a “thief,” a “parasite” and a “traitor.” The government quit harassing Polar with disruptive raids and began, in time, to adopt the economic changes Mr. Mendoza had proposed, like ending crippling price controls.

The story behind Mr. Mendoza and Mr. Maduro’s truce, sealed in a previously unreported meeting in mid-2018, describes the rapprochement between Venezuela’s self-styled revolutionary government and the business class it waged war against for nearly two decades.

The unlikely thaw has been the cornerstone of Venezuela’s recent transformation from a country where the government closely controlled the economy — and derived its legitimacy from the benefits it was able to offer its people — to a place ruled by an autocrat willing to allow de facto capitalism in order to stave off collapse and assure his continued grip on power.

The surprising turn has hardly solved Venezuela’s economic troubles.

[karpov]

If Sanders gets his way, we'll get Venezuela, not Denmark.

[Bishop_Malachi]

The surprising turn has hardly solved Venezuela’s economic troubles.

_____________________________________________

Would anyone want to be a venture capitalist in when the government can just arbitrarily decide to nationalize your business and confiscate your property?

[dfwgator]

Even Lenin figured it out...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Economic_Policy

[knarf]

[catnipman]

after years of negative articles about the failures of Venezuela in the NYT, isn’t it a bit suspicious that they suddenly start running positive articles about Venezuela the minute it looks like Comrade Sanders is going to be the Dem nominee?

[VanShuyten]

“... a place ruled by an autocrat willing to allow de facto capitalism in order to stave off collapse and assure his continued grip on power.”

You’d think from this that no one at the NYT has ever heard of the PRC.