Bread and Circuses

Instead of leadership -- from the UK Telegraph (they are on a roll this morning):

Hugo Chavez plays Father Christmas with cut-price socialist toy fair
Some 124,000 cut-price dolls, puzzles and trucks were up for sale at the country's first socialist toy fair this weekend. The inaugural feria socialista de juguetes was a huge hit with parents who swamped the capital Caracas in such numbers that police officers on horseback intervened to impose order.

"It's amazing. There were thousands waiting this morning even before we opened," Jesus Alvarez, a government co-ordinator told the Guardian. Inside dozens of workers, all dressed in red, unpacked boxes of toys while an official with a megaphone appealed for calm.

Depleted stocks of dolls, puzzles and remote control cars may force the fair, which opened on 7 December, to close this Wednesday, a week early, the paper reports. Barbies sold out within the first few days.

With discounts of up to 80 per cent, there is no mystery to its success.

Venezuela is in recession and suffering 26 per cent inflation, Latin America's highest. Many families are struggling to buy food, let alone gifts.

Inflation has eroded Mr Ch�vez's popularity with many, but parents who heaved away bulging sacks of toys had no complaints. "God bless the president. He is our maximum leader," said Carmen Usecha, 37. The nursery school assistant had bought a battery-powered buggy for her nine-month-old son and a train set for her five-year-old.

Emphasis mine -- an you know what? After the Christmas euphoria dies down, Chavez will still remain unpopular. He is trashing the nation and handing out cheap toys to buy popularity.