A Brave Few Continue to Create Wealth, Jobs Despite Hostile Regime
During the
last few years, running a business as an entrepreneur in Venezuela has
become a titanic task, akin to those which superheroes carry out in
those animated series we held dear as children.
Historically,
Venezuelan business culture has consisted of two strains. On the one
hand, you find the mercantilists, who aim to secure benefits from the
government. These are groups with vested interests that hope to obtain a
particular advantage in the market through lobbying and
political connections.
On
the other hand, you find the real entrepreneurs, who come up with an
idea, develop it with effort, and manage to become competitive in the
market.
The
benefit-hunting, mercantilist businessmen prosper under the socialist
or, in the best case scenario, interventionist economic system that has
prevailed in Venezuela throughout the country’s economic history.
Sadly,
the business sector is in a critical situation. The number of people
willing to risk their time, capital, and effort to move the country
forward is dwindling. Venezuelan entrepreneurs have suffered the abuses
of a system that does not respect private property.
In
Venezuela, regulations prevent companies from being efficient, and the
government determines what companies can sell, as well as how, why,
when, to whom, and at what price. If an apparatchik decides on a whim
that the price of your product is unfair, you can land in jail or face
expropriation.
Venezuelan entrepreneurs also have to carry on their backs the stigma of being portrayed as hoarders, usurers, speculators, pitiyanquis (Yankee sympathizers), or putschists.
We are now used to hearing all those epithets on the radio and on
television at any time of the day, broadcasts that prove how envy,
resentment, and shallow criticism have overrun our society.
In
Venezuela, entrepreneurship requires an overwhelming effort. This is a
country where you have to coexist with socialism, a system that destroys
everything that is productive in a matter of days or weeks. It is a
country where the people, the most valuable capital, are running away
from their misery. We are now used to a hopeless future, and we usually
find ourselves saying: “it seems this won’t change.”
It
is admirable that many businessmen who worked extremely hard for
decades to build a company and create jobs still believe in Venezuela, a
country which has vilified them, even as they endure 40 government
inspections each month, as if they were criminals.
Without
a doubt, it would be easier for them to shut their business down and
take their money to any country that offered them better conditions.
Wealth creators, after all, are human beings, and they seek a decent
quality of life like everyone else.
It’s
difficult to face the fact that, if you argue in public in favor of
economic freedom as a means to boost Venezuela out of its current state
of hunger and misery, you can end up in jail. Entrepreneurs, however,
know that their task includes proving how their values — hard work,
striving for excellence — can bring benefits to everyone.
This
is why I feel so grateful toward Venezuelan entrepreneurs, men and
women who wake up each day with the goal of improving others’ lives by
creating jobs and high-quality products in the most hostile business
environment. We might complain about the government’s crackdown on the
private sector, but that truth is that, without the few brave
businessmen that have stayed in the country, our situation would be much
worse.
Many
people were aware from the outset that the free market allows anyone to
undertake a project and stand on their own feet without depending on
welfare or the Venezuelan state’s miserable system of
redistribution. But life under the Chavista regime has taught many others this lesson the hard way.
Under
a better regime, entrepreneurs would be able to concentrate on creating
products and jobs. Economic freedom and the rule of law would allow
Venezuelans to become more productive, and the government would limit
itself to guaranteeing an attractive environment for investment and
entrepreneurship.
If we can achieve that, we will become citizens of a country that produces prosperity instead of subsidizing penury.
Adolfo Chacón is a lawyer and coordinator for the Youth Area with CEDICE Libertad Venezuela.
No comments:
Post a Comment