BY JORGE RUEDA
Americans may insist on the right to
pursue happiness, but Venezuela now has a formal government agency in charge of
enforcing it.
President Nicolas Maduro says the new
Vice Ministry of Supreme Social Happiness will coordinate all the
"mission" programs created by the late President Hugo Chavez to
alleviate poverty.
Wags had a field day Friday, waxing
sarcastic on Twitter about how happy they felt less than 24 hours after the
announcement.
Oil-rich Venezuela is chronically short
of basic goods and medical supplies. Annual inflation is running officially at
near 50 percent and the U.S. dollar now fetches more than seven times the
official rate on the black market.
In downtown Caracas, fruit vendor Victor
Rey said he's now waiting for Maduro to create a vice ministry of beer.
"That would make me, and all the
drunks, happy," he said.
A TV journalist whose show was recently
forced off the air after he refused to censor political opponents of the ruling
socialists, Leopoldo Castillo, called Maduro's announcement an international
embarrassment.
Housewife Liliana Alfonzo, 31, said that
instead of a Supreme Happiness agency she'd prefer being able to get milk and
toilet paper, which disappear off store shelves minutes after arriving at
stores.
"It's a Calvary getting the
ingredients for any meal," she said.
Maduro blames the shortages on
speculation and hoarding, but merchants say they would go broke if they adhered
to government price controls.
Chavez spent billions on social
programs, from benefits for single mothers to handouts of apartments and major
appliances.
Maduro was elected April 14 as Chavez's
chosen successor.
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