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GUYANA CHRONICLE Wednesday, September 19, 2018
Fury at Venezuelia leader’s Salt Bae feast Video of Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro eating in an upscale steak restaurant in Turkey has caused outrage in crisis-hit Venezuela. The images show Turkish celebrity chef Nusret Gokce, also known as “Salt Bae” carving meat in front of the president and his wife, Cilia Flores, at Gokce’s Nusr-Et restaurant in Istanbul. Almost two-thirds of Venezuelans have reported losing weight as shortages of food worsened in recent years. Red meat is especially scarce. Chef Nusret Gokce posted three videos of Mr Maduro’s visit on Instagram, but has since deleted them. The chef, who has been dubbed Salt Bae for his stylised way of sprinkling salt on his meat, is seen
carving meat in front of the couple with dramatic flair. President Maduro can be heard saying: “This is a once in a lifetime moment.”
holding up a T-shirt with the chef’s image. Gokce owns several luxurious restaurants in the US, the Middle East and Turkey,
Chef Gokce posted pictures of himself with President Maduro in his Istanbul restaurant
Other videos show President Maduro smoking a cigar taken from a box with his name engraved on a plaque, and Cilia Flores
and videos of him carving meat have been watched by millions of people. His restaurants sell some cuts of meat for sev-
eral hundred dollars. The presidential couple were in Istanbul on a stopover from China, where the president was trying to drum up investment. The videos were shared widely by critics of Mr Maduro. Opposition leader Julio Borges, who is living outside Venezuela for fear of arrest, tweeted: “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, all with money stolen from the Venezuelan people.” US Republican senator Marco Rubio, a vocal opponent of President Maduro, laid into the Turkish chef on Twitter. But criticism was heaviest in Venezuela, where 64 per cent of people have reported losing significant
amounts of weight, 11kg (24lbs) on average, amid worsening food shortages. Child malnutrition is at record levels and 2.3 million people have left the country since 2014. Cartoonists have pounced on the incident to highlight the disparity between the president’s meal and the fact that many Venezuelans are having to search the rubbish for food. President Maduro spoke about the now-controversial lunch during a televised news conference, confirming that he had eaten there during his stopover from China. “Nusret attended to us personally. We were chatting, having a good time with him,” Mr Maduro said. He also said that Gokce had told him that “he loves Venezuela”. The chef has not commented. (BBC News)
Mexico anger at trailer full of corpses
A refrigerated trailer containing at least 100 corpses in Mexico’s western state of Jalisco has angered residents who have complained about the smell.
Laws in Mexico prevent the cremation of bodies linked to violent crime. Local authorities said they were looking for a longer-term solution to store the
Authorities were earlier forced to relocate the container full of corpses following complaints
Authorities said on Monday they were trying to relocate the container, which was rented after mortuaries in the city of Guadalajara became full. “We have a lot of children in this neighbourhood... it could make us all sick,” resident José Luis Tovar said.
bodies following a recent wave of violence. “We ran out of cemetery plots where we could bury them,” the head of the Jalisco forensic investigators unit, Luis Octavio Cotero, said. He added that a site was being established that was expected to facilitate some
800 corpses, AFP news agency reports. The refrigerated trailer had previously been parked at a warehouse in the neighbourhood of Duraznera, on the outskirts of Guadalajara, but after two weeks the residents began to complain of a foul stench and said the container was attracting flies. It was then moved to an empty lot in the suburb of
Tlajomulco de Zúñiga, but residents there began to protest at the weekend. “We don’t want it here. They need to put it somewhere else, it stinks,” Mr Tovar said. Mexico has suffered a wave of violent killings in recent years. More than 200,000 people have been killed or have disappeared since December 2006, when
Mexico’s government declared war on organised crime. Mexico experienced its most violent year in 2017 with more than 25,000 murders, official figures suggest. It is the highest annual tally since modern records began. Organised crime accounted for nearly three-quarters of those murders. (BBC News)