While People In The U.S. Are Fighting For Deals On Toys, The Venezuela Government Just Pulled Millions Of Toys
Depending on who you ask, Venezuelan President Nicolás Madura is either the Grinch who stole Christmas or a yuletide Robin Hood who took from the rich in order to sell to the poor.
CNN reports that On Saturday the Venezuelan government confiscated almost 4 million toys from warehouses owned by the Kreisel toy company. Why? Because according to Sundde, Venezuela’s consumer protection agency, Kreisel “committed fraud” against the country by pretending they have less toys available than they actually do to drive the prices up. Toys are on the list of items that the socialist Venezuelan government regulates and therefore have to be sold at approved prices.
Two executives at Kreisel have been arrested. Kreisel hasn’t made an official statement, but they have been on Twitter retweeting supportive messages.
This confiscation of toys came about just two weeks before Christmas, which may make it hard for some people to buy toys for holiday gifts.
Critics of the Venezuelan government toy seizure compared Madura to the Grinch.
#miradorvenezuela Y ahora que? Nicolás Maduro es el grinch moderno?
— Joli (@OlivasJudith) December 10, 2016
Or worse.
#miradorvenezuela @rafaelromocnn es qeste narcoregimen es peor qel GRINCH
— Mivida (@Chelita_1) December 10, 2016
Others say they don’t agree with the Robin Hood-like move.
#MiradorVenezuela @RafaelRomoCNN No es buen ejemplo regalar a los niños de la patria juguetes robados. Son objetos provenientes de un delito
— José María Salazar (@cheotigre) December 11, 2016
The government, however, seems to think that they’re saving Christmas for the poorer children of Venezuela as they plan to make the toys available for lower-than-market prices to families in impoverished neighborhoods, as reported by CNN.
Nuestros niñas y niños son sagrados, no dejaremos que le roben la navidad. #JuguetazoVsAcaparamiento pic.twitter.com/fX9gCM36ya
— Sundde (@sundde_ve) December 10, 2016
Only time will tell if this was a Grinch move or a Robin Hood-esque redistribution of toys.
Find out more about Venezuela’s controversial toy seizure here.
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