President Maduro ordered that all of the products of an appliance distributor called Daka be sold at “just” prices because of some “irregularities” found in the pricing and thus promoted anarchy in both Daka, as well as Pablo Electronics, a store that was mentioned by the Venezuelan President.
Starting last night, people gathered around the stores of these two companies to participate in the “piñata” creating fights, some looting and even shots were fired as the free for all began. While in some stores order was maintained by the police and the National Guard, in others, people left without paying.
And it was a free for all in some cases, as customers broke windows, took stuff without paying and authorities and “pueblo”, both opposition and chavistas, participated in this obscene act, which shows how low the country has come. One has to wonder whether Maduro was losing grip of the situation with his actions, which will certainly lead to shortages for appliances in short order.
Here are some shots from the Daka store today. A return to “ta barato dame dos” (cheap give me two):
and more
And this National Guardsman must be thinking he had a good day:
And indeed, the shelves were emptied
even if some shots were fired to maintain order at some point:
The curious thing is that while the “irregularities” have not been described, it is a matter of “just prices”, calculated at the official rate of exchange of Bs. 6.3 per dollar, which curiously does not appear to apply to appliances or TV’s. In fact, I reviewed the list of CADIVI importers up to 2012 and Daka is not in the list between 2004 and 2012 and Pablo Electronics was assigned all of US$ 135,000 in 2012, the last year for which Cadivi published the list.
Thus, these importers are being punished, without proof, for importing at the black market rate and trying to make a profit amid shortages, which in fact raises prices even further. What this means going forward is that there will be more and more shortages and higher prices. But Maduro fails to get that.
What is more ironic about all this is that Pablo Electronics and Daka sell cheaper than the Government’s Bicentenario stores. Moreover, in the Mi Casa Bien Equipada program, in which the Government “sold” Chinese Haier appliances at “just prices”, prices turned out to be over 50% higher than those charged by Amazon.com. Where was Indepabis then?
In the end, I have to wonder if part of the stuff that Pablo or Daka are or were selling, was actually imported by the Government and resold by some “guisadores” to these stores for a quick profit. With the arbitrage close to ten to one at this time, it is too tempting for Government operators to set up deals like that. Just think, you import and let someone else take care of the distribution and sale.
All in all, a very sad scene in Venezuela, where people seem to have lost sight of reality. This maybe just grandstanding by Maduro, but the scenes are reminiscent of those seen in Zimbawe in 2007, where the “inflation police” forced shopkeepers to sell things at “just” prices. And we all know how that ended up.
In the end, the rule of law no longer exists in Venezuela. A bullish Government can just push you around, inadvertently pushing the country closer to anarchy. Today, appliances, tomorrow, Harina Pan, the day after, there will be nothing left. At that point will people fight each other or decide to get rid of the Government?
The Devil's Excrement 
January 5, 2014 at 6:32 pm
Random idea: I’d like to see explanations to counter incorrect common wisdom nuggets in Venezuela. For example, many people in Vzla seemed to think that “the merchants” were the cause of the large markups seem in foreign appliances in local stores. A more useful explanation would focus on the extreme difficulties of importing the goods and the large sums of money chasing the few goods that were actually imported. The article byline might mention the incorrect common wisdom, and the article would explain the economic causes and mention stories that can be used to illustrate the point to a wider audience.
January 1, 2014 at 2:05 am
[…] 2013 saw a change of leadership in China, and in the Vatican. New US ally Al Qaeda did great, Venezuela not so much. […]
November 10, 2013 at 8:23 pm
[…] http://devilsexcrement.com/2013/11/09/maduro-promotes-anarchy-in-venezuela/ […]
November 10, 2013 at 1:22 pm
The Castros did the same in Cuba some 50 years ago, and are still in power.
November 10, 2013 at 8:58 am
Oh, and Mugabe’s actions in Zimbabwe 2007 worked out fine for him in the end. He’s still the president, isn’t he?
The people of Zimbabwe? Well, I guess that’s a different story.
Depressing.
November 10, 2013 at 2:08 pm
I was referring to the people, not to him. I always give him as an example of how things can hit bottom and politics does not change. Castro is another example.
November 10, 2013 at 8:56 am
Obozo will have the USA to this point by the times he’s out of office….
November 10, 2013 at 1:05 pm
get off this board, you moron. Your subject matter has no bearing on this post.
November 10, 2013 at 11:18 pm
kiss my ass syd
November 10, 2013 at 8:29 am
November 10, 2013 at 9:56 am
By watching this you’d think everyone in Venezuela is a theif and there are no morals or ethics left
November 10, 2013 at 11:09 am
Ernie I was just going to post this video.
What you see here are 2 groups.
The first group is the thieves & the second group are the people who were waiting in line to purchase at reduced prices.
They are super angry with the thieves to the point that they are grabbing TV’s from them & destroying them.
Gives me a little hope that not all are thieves.
November 10, 2013 at 11:45 am
WTF! Hope? I mean, pray tell what the difference is between the thieves and the vandals? Or do you actually think the latter have the right to destroy merchandise they do not own?
November 10, 2013 at 3:05 pm
They don’t but they’re making a point. With the tools at hand…
November 10, 2013 at 5:43 am
All irrelevant now that Miss Venezuela won Miss Universe (again!).
Seriously now Miguel, you seem to be under the impression that Maduro & co actually believe the nonsense they spew out.
I find that, in turn, incredibly hard to believe. I don’t think they’re THAT stupid (very few people are).
What they are, is outrageously cynical and fundamentally wicked.
They know they’re lying, but don’t care about the consequences. Scary.
November 10, 2013 at 1:04 pm
I agree. Things have turned the corner in a very ugly, cynical manner.
Maduro and his minions know perfectly well what they’re aiming at, thanks to Cuban advisors: saqueos trump “auto”-convocatorias (yesterday’s baby steps and future ones) — see how you sheep will sell your souls for mirrors and trinkets? — and the breakdown of civil society, which will be easier to dominate.
November 10, 2013 at 2:10 pm
I do believe they believe in it.
November 9, 2013 at 11:46 pm
Is that 21st century socialism in Venezuela?
November 9, 2013 at 6:44 pm
I would exclude Latinos from the possible contractors.
November 10, 2013 at 3:04 pm
ditto
November 9, 2013 at 6:43 pm
With the way things are going I am now of the opinion that a stable Venezuelan future can only be achieved by contracting out all political, military and police positions, as starters, to non Venezuelans.
November 9, 2013 at 10:05 pm
You mean like Cubans? Sorry, had to ask.
November 10, 2013 at 5:37 am
No, the Swiss, bring the country up to snuff in no time flat. 🙂
November 9, 2013 at 5:40 pm
Excelente artículo. El mejor sobre el tema. Importantísima la mención de Los Bicentenario. Saludos.
Ze
November 9, 2013 at 5:16 pm
Miguel:
I don’t know if you got my email about Maduro misinforming the cesta-ticket (food stamps) but he sure is creating anarchy as is the new labor law.
I’m at a marina this weekend and lo and behold, the bar-restaurant in now open Monday through Friday 9 AM to 9 PM and Saturdays 9 AM to 5 PM. Closed on Sundays. The reason, the new labor law that requires workers to rest on the weekend. They can’t trade, say Sunday for Monday, like they do in many places, labor laws have to be followed to the letter. Where else do they close tourist and recreation places on Sundays? Just plain stupid.
Crime, corruption and bribery elsewhere is fine but not when it comes to paying labor through the nose. Business be damned, long live the revolution.
The really sad part is that the people feel the scarcity and the sky high prices and they still believe in the revolution. Just now I overheard workers blaming the “escualidos” and the “pitiyankees” for the scarcity and the high prices.
Einstein had it right, stupidity is infinite.
November 9, 2013 at 4:59 pm
I bet that half the people who robbed those stores will get robbed themselves on their way home.
November 9, 2013 at 3:08 pm
WTF WHOA WAIT A MINUTE! What happened to the protest today? All I see in the news is looting and rampant consumerism. Does cheap TVs trump protest?
November 9, 2013 at 3:52 pm
http://www.reporteconfidencial.info/noticia/3206911/autoconvocados-en-las-calles-de-venezuela-fotos-/
Lot of people.
November 9, 2013 at 4:24 pm
Thanks. Very good to see.
November 9, 2013 at 2:41 pm
Valencia stored was looted.
November 9, 2013 at 2:41 pm
*store
November 9, 2013 at 2:26 pm
entitlement is such a dirty word
November 9, 2013 at 2:20 pm
[…] The anarchy will continue until morale improves. […]
November 9, 2013 at 2:15 pm
According to this report Daka received $407 million from CADIVI.
Unfortunately the evidence doesn’t have column names so it’s hard to tell exactly what is going on.
http://www.reporteconfidencial.info/noticia/3206910/daka-recibio-407-millones-de-cadivi-ver-pruebas-/
Supposedly they were CYBERLUX DE VENEZUELA ( ANTES DAKA VENEZUELA, C.A). The government is denying that they received CADIVI $$.
The problem of overpricing goes much deeper than 1 company.
Here in Margarita SIGO is a prime example of overpricing based on future expectations.
Price of a 12.000 BTU A/C on Sept. 29 was Bs.12.000. On Oct. 2 it was Bs.18.000
While I don’t agree with the government interfering in pricing I will again state that the government has the hammer over every business that imports. All of them have been dealing in the black market..
November 9, 2013 at 3:49 pm
Cyberlux was given 51 million last year, the 407 is from 2004 to 2012 according to this:
Click to access empresas_diciembre2012.pdf
but I understand appliances were no longer approved by Cadivi.
November 10, 2013 at 2:57 pm
Miguel if you check the list, they merged Daka and Cyberlux, the 407 mil from 2004-2012 checks out
November 10, 2013 at 3:19 pm
yes, I was just separating 2004 to 2012 from 2012. The 51 million in my text is 2012, the 407 is 2004-2012.
November 10, 2013 at 9:36 am
Island, prices are determined not by your cost but by what it will cost the store to purchase the same item again. Electronics do not get Cadivi. Their prices fluctuate. While it is easy to blame stores such as Sigo for raising prices, the fact is that they have to make decisions based in the same economic information as everyone else. There is no denying that inflation i bad for the population but we must be clear who to blame
November 10, 2013 at 3:00 pm
Electronics do get cadivi. I don’t support the gov, and I sure understand what reposition cost is as I too have a business. But I don’t support paying
$30.000 for a fridge that costs $2000 in US either.
November 10, 2013 at 3:01 pm
overpricing items by 1000% surely has nothing to do with reposition, sorry.
November 9, 2013 at 1:35 pm
Looters Paradise. What happens when these stores close and those items are no longer available in Venezuela at all, at any price?
November 9, 2013 at 1:28 pm
Hay Octavio que tristeza ver a los venezolanos caer tan bajo…pan para hoy hambre para mañana. Como siempre creen que se la estan comiendo por comprar un TV barato…que dolor
November 9, 2013 at 1:28 pm
A video of the looting:
November 9, 2013 at 4:35 pm
And other view:
November 9, 2013 at 1:20 pm
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-11-09/venezuela-government-occupies-electronics-retail-chain-enforces-fair-prices