It’s 1960s Cuba all over again. It’s 1970s Cambodia all over again.
Food shortages. Mandatory labor. Nationwide suffering. Yep, this is what you get in socialist states, which always seem to have deep affection for price controls and central planning.
Last week, the government of Venezuela issued a decree that would amount “to forced labor.” The Venezuelan government has implemented mandatory labor in the farming sector in order to combat the food crisis, which has led to shortages across the socialist country.
Resolution No. 9855 will create the “transitory labor regime” that would revitalize the agricultural and food sectors. This, the government says, will enforce what is “necessary to achieve strategic levels of self-sufficiency.” The decree states that workers can be forcefully taken away from their current jobs to work in farm fields or other parts of the agricultural sector for a minimum of 60 days.
The mandate will consist of both public- and private-sector workers. Also, workers will be permitted to return to their original job once their forced service has been completed.
If they reject…well, the government will use force.
Amnesty International states that the law is vague because it doesn’t exactly state which workers can be mandated to work in the farming sector.
“Trying to tackle Venezuela’s severe food shortages by forcing people to work the fields is like trying to fix a broken leg with a band aid,” said Erika Guevara Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International, in a statement.
“The new decree completely misses the point when it comes to finding ways for Venezuela to crawl out of the deep crisis it has been submerged in for years. Authorities in Venezuela must focus on requesting and getting much needed humanitarian aid to the millions in need across the country and develop a workable long term plan to tackle the crisis.”
President Nicolas Maduro was able to circumvent congress by taking advantage of his executive power.
This isn’t the first time that he has abused his power. Over the last 12 months, he has implemented bank freezes, he has ordered factories to operate and he has performed nationwide power outages.
The world’s worst economy doesn’t have access to the simplest of foods items, such as bread, eggs and milk. It is also lacking basic medical supplies, which is hurting hospitals and their patients (SEE: Video: Venezuela’s socialism leads to shortage of medical supplies).
Socialist nations have imposed forced labor before. Socialist dictatorships have been notorious for their labor camps. Even softer forms of dictatorships have used forced labor.
During the 1960s, Cuba mandated workers to work on sugar farms to combat the shortage of sugar. In the 1970s, Cambodia’s Pol Pot established the infamous “killing fields.” China’s Mao Tse-Tung also had labor camps during his “Great Leap Forward” campaign.
Yep, a socialist paradise indeed. But this is something that the vile person below would want:
Lupe Delgadillo says
You all want to work,Hell get to produce food for people o even to feed animals for food.food is not coming from heaven .