September 8, 2010 1:32PM 

# Chávez Introduces ‘Good Life Card’, Better Known as Rationing Card in Cuba 

By [Juan Carlos Hidalgo](https://www.cato.org/people/juan-carlos-hidalgo) 

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The latest feature in Venezuela’s road to socialism was introduced yesterday by President Hugo Chávez. [It’s the “Good Life Card,”](http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/09/04/1807508/venezuela-introduces-cuba-like.html) an instrument that, according to the government, will make it easier to buy groceries at government-owned supermarkets.

Even though Chávez denies that the card is a way “to promote communism,” the concept of a government-sponsored card to buy food in a country suffering from acute shortages is well known. They call it a “rationing card” in Cuba.

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