On Monday, news agencies started reporting that President Nicolas Maduro had seized total control of Venezuela’s political institutions with a sweeping victory in legislative elections. And while there was considerable euphoria within the Venezuelan ruling class, ground reports from the country are truly disheartening, to say the least. 96% of the country’s population currently lives in poverty and about one-third of these people lack enough nutritious food for normal human growth and development. According to one survey, 60% of Venezuelans shed at least 11 kilograms in weight over the recent past due to malnutrition.

And with the pandemic and the lockdown in place, the food crisis has reached truly incredible proportions. Whatever little food that Venezuelans still produce is currently rotting because farmers don’t have the means to carry their produce to the markets due to an unprecedented shortage of overpriced fuel. Imagine this happening in a country that boasts the largest oil reserves in the world. It is simply crazy. So we thought maybe we could look at how Venezuela got here and see why the government's policies to control prices have failed so miserably.