Hungry Venezuelans Reaping Bounty of Oil Revenue

At first glance, Venezuela's poor seem ill-equipped to handle the global food crisis that has sent the costs of even basic grains skyrocketing in recent months.The country is strapped with South America's highest annual inflation rate, with food prices rising 36.2 percent in the 12 months before March, according to the Venezuelan central bank. And the average Venezuelan family now spends 47 percent of its monthly income on food, said Luis Vicente Leon, director of the polling firm Datanalisis. But under the socialist government of President Hugo Chavez, Venezuelans have access to heavily discounted foods—paid for by record oil revenues—making it possible for them to remain oblivious to the hardships in other poor countries. 'This is very cheap. That's why I put up with the lines,' said Petra Blanco as she shopped for subsidized foods at a Mega Mercal in Pinto Salinas, a Caracas slum.