Maduro’s steak feast enrages starving Venezuelans
NICOLAS MADURO, the president of Venezuela, has drawn opprobrium over a video showing him being served slabs of prime steak by a celebrity chef in Istanbul at a time when food shortages are inflicting misery and malnutrition on millions at home.
Mr Maduro and his wife, Celia Flores, were accused of spending public money on a banquet after the chef, Nusret Gökçe, also known as “Salt Bae”, posted Instagram videos of their visit
to his restaurant, Nusr-et, in Turkey. In one clip, the couple are seen looking on admiringly as Gökçe theatrically carves meat at their table. “This is a once in a lifetime moment,” Mr Maduro can be heard remarking. Other footage shows Maduro puffing on a cigar offered to him from a box bearing his name.
The videos, later taken down, stirred anger in Venezuela amid a humanitarian crisis that has forced millions to leave the country.
Hyperinflation and food shortages have led to record levels of child malnutrition.
The average Venezuelan has lost 10kg (22lb) in the past year and many have resorted to rifling through rubbish bins in search of food. Protein is scarce as prices continue to soar and red meat is virtually non-existent.
Julio Borges, the opposition leader in exile in Colombia, said: “While Venezuelans suffer and die of hunger, Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores have a good time in one of the most expensive restaurants in the world, with money stolen from the Venezuelan people.” Juan Pablo García, another parliamentarian,
raged: “These degenerates enjoy themselves on stolen money. They will pay!”
Gökçe owns a number of restaurants in the US, Turkey and the Middle East, where some cuts of meat cost several hundred dollars. According to the Miami Herald, his signature Tomahawk steak, which Gökçe comes out to serve personally, costs more than £200.
The chef, too, has received an online backlash. It is not the first time he has stirred controversy: shortly after he opened his Miami restaurant last year, a video of him posing with beret and
cigar by a portrait of Fidel Castro enraged many local Cuban-americans.
Mr Maduro, who has dismissed the Venezuelan crisis as the work of imperialist saboteurs or even fake news, seemed impervious to the criticism. Speaking on national television after the footage emerged, he said: “Nusret attended to us personally. He told me several times he loves Venezuela.”
On Sunday, two firemen who made a video portraying Mr Maduro as a donkey were arrested and could face 20 years in jail if convicted of inciting hate.