A new ration card is the latest idea by Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro to deal with the country’s perpetual food shortages.
The “Secure Food Supply” will limit the amount of basic necessities that Venezuelan citizens can buy, Reuters reported Friday. The goal of the card is to prevent individuals from hitting an in-store quota, exiting the facility and then returning to the back of the food line.
Currently, uniformed guards who check bags are employed to make sure shoppers are in compliance with quotas on items such as milk and sugar.
“These are systems to protect against contraband, so that all of this really does reach the people,” Mr. Maduro said upon unveiling the card in March, Reuters reported.
In order to win support for the rationing card, the socialist president is even offering citizens the chance to win prizes.
“Each month we’ll set aside, I don’t know, 500 apartments and maybe 500 vehicles, special bonuses, vacation packages,” Mr. Maduro told a crowd of Venezuelans, Reuters reported.
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Gustavo Rojas, director of Polinomics, a pollster with offices in Washington and Caracas, told Reuters that Mr. Maduro’s plan will not work.
“The only way to eat is to produce or import, and right now neither of those [aspects of a healthy economy] is functioning correctly,” he said.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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