Dairy embodies Chávez's do-it-all ideal

Aids government struggling with food shortages

Shifting away from the production of yogurt and oatmeal, Los Andes dairy in Barquisimeto, Venezuela, has ramped up milk production eightfold in a bid to achieve what the government calls "nutritional sovereignty." (Juan Forero/Washington Post)

BARQUISIMETO, Venezuela - Mauricio Herrera describes himself as a devoted soldier in President Hugo Chávez's self-styled revolution.

So when oil workers opposed to Chávez went on strike in 2002, Herrera was among loyalists at the state oil company who revived production.

Now, with the government bedeviled by food shortages, Herrera has been called upon to carry out the president's orders in an entirely different sector: milk.

A chemical engineer with 32 years of experience in oil, Herrera is working at Los Andes Dairy, which was recently acquired by the state oil company. He is responsible for running a venerable firm with two pasteurization plants, 52 distributorships and 3,000 employees. His instructions are to boost production and ease Venezuela's dairy shortages.

In a country that has seen the state increasingly inject itself into the economy, nationalizing companies, applying currency controls and setting prices, the acquisition of Los Andes in this western city embodies Chávez's state-does-it-all philosophy.

The approach has largely discouraged private investment in Venezuela, while making some foods scarce. But since Chávez first won office in 1998, he has wrested control of oil from multinational energy firms and nationalized the phone company, electric utilities and, more recently, an Argentine-controlled steel producer.

Shifting from the production of yogurt and oatmeal - products Herrera dismissively says the former owners churned out to generate profits - Los Andes has ramped up milk production eightfold in a bid to achieve what the government calls "nutritional sovereignty."

"It's our responsibility," said Herrera, 57, who has a slight goatee and has learned to speak about milk with the same enthusiasm he once reserved for oil. "This is a question of conscience. This is a company that has to have a socialist focus."

Chávez announced the purchase of Los Andes in March as a solution to the food shortages that have chipped away at his government's popularity. Herrera and officials at the oil company said they did not know what the state paid for Los Andes, though milk industry officials said it was $180 million.

The president said he decided to purchase the dairy company after Rafael Ramirez, the president of Petroleos de Venezuela, the state oil company, told him about it.

"He said, 'I have good news, they're selling a company,' " Chávez said recently on his nationally televised show, "Hello President." "I reviewed the characteristics of the company, and I said, 'Let's not waste a day. Buy it.' "

Although economists attributed the food shortages here in part to rising demand, the president has said unbridled capitalism, unscrupulous speculators and hoarding by political opponents are to blame.

He has also characterized the struggle to increase food production as part of an epic battle between his revolution and imperialist forces.

"We're going to have good nutrition for a people who deserve it," he said. "We're going to defeat the imperialist plan."

In the expansive plant here, where milk and juices are pasteurized, refrigerated, packed, and shipped, workers in hard hats and white coats said the new ownership has not translated into a major transformation.

Save for Herrera, the new president, the production managers remain the same as before. Workers had kind words for the old owners, but several said they agreed with the new philosophy of focusing on milk production.

"We're seeing now that there's more milk," said Carlos Escalona, one of the workers. "You can see the milk in the stores."

It is still too early to determine whether the mounting production at Los Andes will have a major effect on nationwide milk supplies.

The company's goal - about 53,000 gallons a day - amounts to just 5 percent of national production. Academics and economists who have studied Venezuela's agricultural sector doubt there will be any large-scale impact.

"Why don't they preoccupy themselves in increasing the production of oil instead of producing milk?" scoffed Carlos Machado, a specialist on agriculture, referring to Petroleos de Venezuela's role at Los Andes. "What if milk producers were now starting to produce oil?"

A recent poll by Datanalisis, a Caracas polling firm, showed that Venezuelans have been concerned about the president's approach. More than 70 percent of respondents disapproved of how the government has handled food supplies, up from 42 percent in October.

Academics and food producers, meanwhile, say farmers and cattlemen are reluctant to invest in a country where price controls cut into profits and where land takeovers are a prominent feature of agricultural policy.

"It's a consequence of the government's policy of hyper-intervention," said Machado, who studies agriculture for the Institute of Superior Administrative Studies in Caracas and wrote the recently published book "Food Consumption in Venezuela."

Price controls have been imposed on dozens of Venezuelan products, and economists and food producers say those controls have reduced production and generated a dramatic rise in imports.