And yet just when I think that the place is getting to rock bottom, Maduro and compadres manage to dig themselves ever deeper. They have now brought back agricultural slavery:
President Nicolás Maduro signed a decree at the end of last week that gives powers to the labor ministry to order “all workers from the public and private sector with enough physical capabilities and technical know-how” to join a government drive aimed at increasing food production.
They can be required to work in the agricultural sector for a 60-day period that can be extended for another 60 days “if the circumstances require it.”
It’s entirely true that this isn’t chattel slavery but it is very much akin to serfdom. The peasant must work a certain number of days of the year on the lord’s land. Although with serfdom there was actually a quid pro quo: the lord defended the serf in return; that’s how the institution arose. Venezuela’s biggest defense need is to be defended from the idiocy of the Venezuelan government, so forcing them to go labor for it is adding insult to injury.
