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Life Behind the Velvet Rope
Posted
at
7:08 pm
There’s just one place in Caracas where milk is sure to be found.
Cereal’s companion has been nigh impossible to find for months. Chavez’s ministers have scrambled to state an acceptable reason as to why, but residents say the government’s price controls on not only milk but also sugar, flour and other staples have driven farmers to produce other goods.
In the case of milk, farmers say they can’t produce it for the price the government says it should be made available to the public. Instead, they’re using their dairy to make cheese, which isn’t subject to controls.
The space that once held milk at a nearby grocery store is empty most of the time, except for the rare occasion in which milk is delivered. When that happens, word spreads fast. Today, the milk was sold out by noon.
The alternatives include powdered milk and "Long Life," a boxed milk-type product, designed for long-term storage, that or may not be fortified with yucca juice.
While city residents enter withdrawal from lack of leche, employees at the United States Embassy (an attractive complex perched on a slope offering a breathtaking view of the city) are apparently enjoying special deliveries of the cow’s purest product.
“Who told you that? We don’t get milk here,” one embassy official told me, unable to hide a slight smile.
Not five minutes had passed before another embassy official passed by to share the bad news.
“The milk truck crashed, so we won’t get any today,” he said.
The official who told me there wasn’t any milk looked sheepish.
The U.S. government does its best to make life as familiar as possible for its employees in Venezuela. From red, white and blue-themed hallways to overly-efficient air conditioning, it’s American through and through.
An attentive Marine checked my passport and stumbled over my Greek surname. (“Hoo-ahh!” I said in thanks when he returned my passport. I couldn’t help it. The Marine grinned.)
I even sipped a frothy café con leche in the embassy’s cafeteria.
“Makes you feel right at home, doesn’t it?” one official said as we strolled through the red and white portion of a hallway toward the blue section.
Got Milk, indeed.
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