Caracas Chronicles

Quico says: Reading through some of the 26 Decree-“Laws” that are collectively coming to be known as the Gacetazo, the thing that pops out at me is that most of what’s in there isn’t really tyrannical, or unconstitutional or Marxist or whatever. Most of it’s just paja. Airy nonsense. Kilometrically wordy, groovy-leftie BS: noble-hearted statements of intent, platitudinous definitions, utterly inconsequential lists of principles, and sundry other bits of filler apparently included just so Monedero & Co. over at Centro Miranda can justify their billing hours.

Take article 39 of the new Food Security Law…

Monetary and non-monetary exchange alternatives, such as the equivalence economy, barter, or any other mechanisms of comparative valuation that may result from a trade, are valid for the fair exchange of food, products, inputs, knowledge and agricultural services, as regulated by the judicial order.

Well, it’s a good thing that’s written into law now. I’m sure campesinos up and down the land will breathe a sigh of relief and start bartering stuff now that it’s allowed. Gracias, Juan Carlos, we never would’ve thought of it without you!

Sure, alongside the reams and reams of that kind of thing, there’s a hard nub of hyper-regulatory, massively papeleo generating, patently unconstitutional and creepily punitive measures.

But the bread and butter of the gacetazo? A tsunami of paja.