Venezuela’s bizarre response to McDonald’s running out of french fries

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/01/07/venezuelas-bizarre-response-to-mcdonalds-running-out-of-french-fries/

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Publicly-sponsored news outlets, government officials, and even the country's president Nicolas Maduro have all responded to McDonald's unthinkable french fry shortage, which spans all 100 outlets in the country, by publicly criticizing the chain, and its french fries.

One of the loudest responses came from Telesur, a state-sponsored news outlet, which wasted no time in getting to what it views as the heart of the issue. The outlet published a story headlined, "McDonald's joins economic war against Venezuela," not-so-subtly suggesting that the lack of fried potato sticks is somehow tied to a broader war being waged by the United States and its capitalistic ways. McDonald's said there's been a shortage since it had trouble importing potatoes. But Telesur says that's all a lie.

"The U.S. multinational fast-food chain is claiming it cannot get potatoes in Venezuela, despite the fact other restaurants do not have the same problem," the article begins.

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Maduro also retweeted this tweet by Roberto Hernandez, Venezuela's Minister for Labor and Social Security, which calls McDonald's french fries cancerous.