More anti-Chavez nonsense. Chavez is now somehow trying to instill "austere socialist values", whatever the fuck that means, while he simultaneously increases the purchasing power of most of the country substantially. The people in the bottom 20% income bracket have seen a whopping 53% income increase (33% when corrected for inflation) and are spending it. Keep in mind they're almost 60% of the population so far and away MOST Venezuelans have seen a substantial increase in income and are buying all kinds of shit they never dreamed of buying under previous administrations. The top income groups are not hurting either with oil prices being quite high but they're angry that they no longer get to capture ALL the gains. How all this increase in purchasing power and its accompanying explosion of consumer goods purchased is a vision of austerity I don't know unless you somehow believe these gains are made in spite of Chavez rather than because of his policies but that's a daft idea.
John Thornton