Before last year's presidential election in December, Chávez, describing beer trucks as a "degeneration of society," ordered the National Guard to prevent the delivery vehicles from selling beer on the streets of poor neighborhoods. He has since imposed a 35 percent import duty on imported whiskey, a favorite lunchtime drink of many people here."
"Chávez, a teetotaler, appears to have touched a nerve with the ban on alcohol sales, which initially confused many people and caught them off guard.
His pronouncement on politics and the direction of what he describes as a "Bolivarian revolution" are generally taken in stride; policies that immediately affect the rituals of daily life are another matter."
International Herald Tribune articel
Chavez should be careful with revolutionary decrees like this. He should have probably been more incremental than this. I cite Nicolo Machiavelli in The Prince
"And it ought to be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. Because the innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions, and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new. This coolness arises partly from fear of the opponents, who have the laws on their side, and partly from the incredulity of men, who do not readily believe in new things until they have had a long experience of them. Thus it happens that whenever those who are hostile have the opportunity to attack they do it like partisans, whilst the others defend lukewarmly, in such wise that the prince is endangered along with them."
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Chavez should be careful with revolutionary decrees like this. He should have probably been more incremental than this. I cite Nicolo Machiavelli in The Prince
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