Easter booze ban in Venezuela
Written by Allison Herre on April 5, 2007 – 11:36 am - Welcome, if you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed or subscribe to our email newsletter. Thanks for visiting!
Venezuela is a strongly Catholic country, and therefore, Hugo Chavez believes he has the right to ban consumption of alcohol during Holy Week, leading up to Easter.
The ban outlaws drinking alcohol from 5:00 pm to 10:00 am each night from March 31, and all day from the following Thursday to Easter Sunday. It aims to lower the toll of traffic accidents due to drunk-driving over the period.
But it has led the South American country’s top beer brewer, Cerverceria Polar, to cancel a series of festive events it had planned for the week on the tourist island of Margarita and other resorts. ()
Not only will the country lose money on tourism due to the ban, there is likely to be a higher rate of illegal activity. This is oddly reminiscent of the prohibition era of American history, which produced organized crime and directly preceded the Great Depression. Though a four day ban on alcohol won’t throw the economy into a larger hole, there are definitely down-sides to this sort of policy.
This is just another reason that democracy trumps authoritarian dictatorships.
Last 5 posts by Allison Herre- Free Speech Pressed--article by Michael O'Brien and Adam Paul - January 31st, 2008
- Americans for Prosperity sponsors Summit in WI - January 27th, 2008
- Speakers are to be seen and not to negotiate - April 4th, 2007
- From the Hill - April 4th, 2007
- DC notes and thoughts - February 16th, 2007
Posted in Beyond the Facade |
April 5th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
i was hilariously reading that it’s 1 part Chavez’ doing in an effort to quell drunk driving and alcoholism and 3 parts Chavez’ doing to somehow spite Bush bc Americans drink.
it’s not working regardless of reasoning. some sources I saw have even baby formula being alcoholic, and there being zero actual enforcement
April 5th, 2007 at 9:02 pm
Are the thoughts in the second and third paragraph’s Herre’s own? If so, she’s way overstepping her qualifications. No college student is informed enough about international politics to make those kind of grandiose statements.
April 10th, 2007 at 9:14 am
Don’t get me wrong, I oppose Chavez on many many many issues, however I am going to give credit where credit is due here. The Holy Days, especailly Good Friday, are not a time for going out and getting drunk, these are times for fasting. The “Right” likes to get the votes of socially conservative Catholics, but then if the loss of any money occurs, their response is effectivly “screw you.” I fail to see the author’s purpuse here, there are plenty of things to attack Chavez for, let’s not attack him for respecting Catholicism.