{"id":2043,"date":"2018-10-01T20:57:14","date_gmt":"2018-10-01T20:57:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/?p=2043"},"modified":"2018-10-01T20:57:14","modified_gmt":"2018-10-01T20:57:14","slug":"maduro-under-fire-for-dining-on-steak-cut-by-salt-bae-in-lavish-turkish-restaurant-while-venezuelans-starve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/2018\/10\/01\/maduro-under-fire-for-dining-on-steak-cut-by-salt-bae-in-lavish-turkish-restaurant-while-venezuelans-starve\/","title":{"rendered":"Maduro under fire for dining on steak cut by Salt Bae in lavish Turkish restaurant while Venezuelans starve"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro has drawn opprobrium over a video showing him being served slabs of prime steak by a celebrity chef in Istanbul, at at time when food shortages are inflicting misery and malnutrition on millions at home.<\/p>\n

Mr Maduro and his wife, Celia Flores, were accused of spending public money on a \u201cbanquet\u201d after the chef, Nusret G\u00f6k\u00e7e, also known as \u201cSalt Bae\u201d, posted Instagram videos of their visit to his restaurant Nusr-Et<\/p>\n

In one clip, the couple are seen looking on admiringly as G\u00f6k\u00e7e theatrically carves meat at their table.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a once in a lifetime moment,\u201d Mr Maduro can be heard remarking. Other footage shows Maduro puffing on a cigar offered to him from a box bearing his name on a plaque, and receiving a gift of a t-shirt bearing the chef\u2019s image.<\/p>\n

The videos, later taken down, have stirred disgust in Venezuela and abroad amid a profound humanitarian crisis which has forced millions to flee the country.<\/p>\n

Hyperinflation and food shortages have led to record levels of child malnutrition and the average Venezuelan has lost 10 kg (22lb) in the past year.<\/p>\n

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M<\/span>any Venezuelans have resorted to rifling through rubbish bins in search of food, with increasing reports of parents being forced to give up their children as they are unable to provide for them. Protein has become scarce, particularly since a new round of price controls last month, and red meat is virtually non-existent.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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J<\/span>ulio Borges, the opposition leader who is currently living in exile in Colombia, said \u201cWhile Venezuelans suffer and die of hunger, Nicol\u00e1s 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.”<\/p>\n

Juan Pablo Garc\u00eda, another parliamentarian, raged that \u201cwhile millions of Venezuelans eat rubbish and flee our country because of hunger, these degenerates enjoy themselves on money stolen from public assets. They will pay!\u201d<\/p>\n

G\u00f6k\u00e7e owns a number of upscale restaurants in the US, Turkey and the Middle East, which price some cuts of meat at several hundred dollars. According to the Miami Herald, his signature Tomahawk steak – the dish which G\u00f6k\u00e7e comes out to serve personally – costs $275 (\u00a3209) at his restaurant in the city.<\/p>\n

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T<\/span>he chef too received a backlash from online followers after posting the videos with a caption thanking Mr Maduro for his visit. 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 in front of a portrait of Fidel Castro enraged many local Cuban-Americans.<\/p>\n

The contrast between Venezuelans\u2019 daily struggles and the lavish indulgence of their rotund leader was seized upon by cartoonists, as well as the writer Leonardo Padr\u00f3n, who said the \u201centire country was indignant at the images\u201d. “The cigar, the gold watch, the banquet, the abundance of meat, the conceited attitude” was “immensely offensive”, he wrote.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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M<\/span>r Maduro, who has consistently dismissed the Venezuelan crisis as either the work of imperialist saboteurs or even fake news, seemed largely impervious to the criticism. Speaking on national television after the footage emerged, he said the visit to the restaurant came on a stopover while returning from China.<\/p>\n

“Nusret attended to us personally. We were chatting, having a good time with him,” Mr Maduro said, adding “he told me several times he loves Venezuela”.<\/p>\n

Those mocking the Venezuela leader online risk the ire of authorities; on Sunday, two firemen who made a viral video portraying him as a donkey were jailed pending trial on charges of inciting hate. They could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro has drawn opprobrium over a video showing him being served slabs of prime steak by a celebrity chef in Istanbul, at at 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 \u201cbanquet\u201d after the chef, Nusret G\u00f6k\u00e7e,… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/100"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2043"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2043\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2044,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2043\/revisions\/2044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}