Venezuelans continued to protest today over Christmas hams, as the Maduro regimes continues to fail to live up to its promise of delivering them to homes all across the country in time for the holidays.
Following a protest yesterday on the Caracas-La Guaira highway, residents of Nueva Esparta state put up makeshift barricades in the vicinity of the General en Jefe Santiago Mariño airport, which connects the island of Margarita to the rest of the country.
Below, a flaming barricade at approximately 10:00 AM local time:
In the videos below, protesters yell insults at National Guard soldiers who were sent to clear up the barricades:
Below, more images of the protest:
On October 22 of this year, Maduro promised during a televised address that Venezuelans would have hams for Christmas this year, referencing his failure last year to deliver on the same promise. He said:
This year we will not fail with the Christmas hams. The biggest, fattest Christmas hams are coming to every CLAP in the country. Bolivarian Christmas hams!
As he did last year, Maduro promised that the hams would be delivered through the regime’s ailing CLAP distribution system.
The protests over the Christmas hams appear to have gone international. An article published in Portugal’s JN today shows an image of a pig that was left in the Simon Bolivar plaza in Lisbon. Below the pig is a sign that reads “We’ve been waiting for two years, give Venezuelans their hams”.
Business Association Calls 2018 “The Worst Year”
FEDECAMARAS, the country’s largest business association, said in a statement today that 2018 will be remembered in Venezuela as “the worst year” for business in the country’s history, and that the dire economic figures will prove it.
In a written statement, FEDECAMARAS chief Carlos Larrazábal shared a number of statistics showing the collapse of the Venezuelan business and industrial sectors this year. Below, the figures:
- The GDP has fallen again by more than 15%, accumulating over the last 4 years a decrease of 56%.
- The economic has shrunk by half.
- More than 50% of Venezuelan industrial capacity that continues to operate does so at less than 20% of its capacity.
- Agriculture only manages to meet 25% of the country’s food demand.
- This year alone, 40% of business in Venezuela closed.
- 95% of the construction sector is paralyzed.
- The list of multinational corporations that are abandoning our country continues to grow.
For FEDECAMARAS, the impact of the economic collapse is clear. The statement goes on to say:
Venezuela’s population suffers from an accelerating poverty rate. The majority of this population has lost the hopes and dreams to build a better future here in Venezuela, and now looks to survive under any circumstance in other countries.
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In Venezuela 