SOCIALIST SUPERMARKET

Within the past year the Venezuelan government has taken over many businesses, like banks, manufacturers and food companies. We have been shopping at a supermarket that used to belong to a French company but is now government owned and operated. The new store is called Bicentenario, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Venezuela's independence. It is advertised as a "people's store" with lower prices although we haven't seen much difference in the cost of items. One real change has been in the deli area where customers can buy a type of sandwich called an arepa, a popular local specialty.


However in this store the price for an arepa is about one third of what you would pay elsewhere. These tasty concoctions of cornmeal, pork, beans, cheese or beef mixtures are called socialist arepas, to emphasize the lack of capitalist profit that yields a lower price. For an added bit of political education, the receipt you receive when you buy one of these has a quote from Karl Marx printed on it.

About 6 lines from the bottom of our receipt that we photographed(above) you'll see a sentence in Spanish which translates as, "To each according to his needs, from each according to his ability." We've never noticed anyone else actually reading or discussing this famous Marxist slogan while standing in line waiting for their food, but I suppose it's the thought that counts.