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<h1 id="reader-title">Venezuelan Opposition Attacks Black-Led,
Pro-Revolution Bakery</h1>
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<p>March 23, 2017<br>
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<p>Right-wing Venezuelan opposition supporters attacked
workers at La Minka bakery in Caracas Tuesday, shoving
them while shouting racial slurs, independent media
outlet Efecto Cocuyo reported.</p>
<p>“I'm not a racist, but those Blacks with their bare
feet and dirty hands, I'm not eating it (the bread),”
one opposition protester said, according to Venezuela
Analysis.</p>
<p>The assailants, who have suspected ties to opposition
parties First Justice and Popular Will, were protesting
the bakery’s new owners. La Minka, formerly named
Mansion Bakery, is now run by a predominantly-Black
workers’ collective supportive of the Bolivarian
Revolution.</p>
<p>The workers, with help from the socialist government,
took over the bakery last week after its previous owners
were sanctioned for breaking food production laws. They
not only violated health codes — they also intentionally
hoarded products and raised prices by more than 400
percent for personal gain.</p>
<p>Now, La Minka is serving low-cost,
government-subsidized products that are accessible to
Caracas’ working class community. For Venezuela’s
right-wing opposition, however, La Minka’s new products
are not good enough for them.</p>
<p>“I always bought bread here early. It was tasty. Now
they tell me that I can not buy them like that here
anymore. I must look for it somewhere else,” a local
opposition protester who did not give her name told
Efecto Cocuyo after the scuffle.</p>
<p>Despite the attack, La Minka workers are continuing to
serve their community. The grassroots-run bakery is
producing more than 5,600 baguettes daily, distributing
low-cost bread to about 11 food collectives in the area.</p>
<p>“We're not taking anything from anybody, we're just
doing justice,” Caracas government official Carolina
Cestari, told reporters at a press conference Wednesday.</p>
<p>The bakery is named after La Minka collective, a
grassroots community organization that works alongside
the Bolivarian Revolution to provide resources for
Venezuela’s underserved communities. “Minka” is a
Quechua term that represents “communal work for the
greater good.”</p>
<p>Bread is a basic consumer good according to the
Venezuelan government. In accordance with the country’s
laws, bread must be sold at government-stipulated fair
prices intended to guarantee consumer access for the
majority of people.</p>
<p>Last week, the Venezuelan government took over two
bakeries for failing to comply with these price
controls.</p>
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<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863.9977
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.freedomarchives.org">www.freedomarchives.org</a>
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