Another headache is securing the grain to make pasta, says Angie Mendible who works in Capri's import department. Venezuela does not produce wheat.
Even so, Mendible says that each time the company wants to buy a shipment from the U.S. or Canada, it must first apply for a government certificate stating that ... Venezuela does not produce wheat.
"It takes 35 days to get this certificate," Mendible says. "Then we have to apply for permission to buy U.S. dollars. That can take another 90 days.
...
But Ismael Perez, president of the Venezuelan Chamber of Industries, says government intervention has backfired because very few top officials have any business experience. He recalled a meeting to deal with a recent toilet paper shortage caused by distribution snafus.
Instead of addressing the bottlenecks, Perez said, a government minister proposed building toilet paper factories in each of Venezuela's 32 states.
Other analysts say Maduro has an authoritarian streak and wants to control all sectors of Venezuelan society.
But the resulting bureaucracy is ruining the economy, says Jorge Redmond, president of Chocolates El Rey, which produces and exports chocolate.
"When Chavez came to power there were four steps one needed to take in order to export a container of chocolate. Today it's 90 steps," he says. "And there's 19 different ministries involved in this series of permissions. It's a mess."
Redmond claims the government is out to punish the private sector because many business leaders, himself included, support Venezuela's political opposition.
"In other countries, the governments have a sort of an alliance with the private sector to create a process of development," he says. "That doesn't exist because there is a complete mistrust on the part of the government toward the private sector. We're just have to be watched."
Back at Capri, Nobile tells me that after a half century making pasta, he's never seen a tougher business climate. But at least Capri is still standing. There used to be 40 pasta companies in Venezuela. Now there are only five.
Follow up the murder and coups with decades of U.S. installed Shah with his repression and oil company loyalties and you have the proper recipe for making of an enemy. We need to stop being a nation of Kermit Roosevelts and start being a nation motivated by peace. You seem to think this animosity the county feels toward the U.S. is directed by its leadership and at the people of the U.S. It is not. We opened the door to the Supreme Leader, a religious autocrat who will not allow the CIA to kill him. You get in Iran what Kermit and his buddies created until you CHANGE YOUR POLICIES. That is what this is all about. The people of Iran have the same attitude as you have toward "the great satan." So step aside and let others who are not so threatening and militaristic represent us in the region and things would settle down.
