After the uproar created by a recent decree in Venezuela ordering its citizens to work in the country’s fields for 60-day periods, the government is saying that the resolution had a “typing error” and the mandatory farm work will not be “forced” but “voluntary.”
(FOX)- “The resolution will be published again and it will be explained in a much more digestible way,” said Francisco Torrealba, a lawmaker from the ruling party, earlier this week.
The controversial decree, which basically institutes forced labor, is the latest of initiatives by Nicolas Maduro’s socialist government to bring relief to the increasingly alarming food scarcity.
Just in the past few months, several plans have been brought to the table and failed, such as an effort to promote home farming and the creation of a food allocation system – headed by party loyalists – to ensure certain basic products are distributed to every household.
The latest decree, issued on July 22, said in very vague terms that every public or private employee with “adequate physical conditions” will be bound to do agricultural activities to serve the “national interest” if the government deems it necessary.