In a recent Sunday television broadcast, President Hugo Chavez showcased one of the latest achievements of his decade-long government: a Venezuelan-made diaper that he hailed as "the first socialist diaper."
"Dear lady, if you want your baby to be more beautiful...use diapers made in Venezuela," Chavez pitched to the camera, holding up the package, which was red, the preferred color of his self-styled socialist revolution.
The diaper factory, which has 34 workers and runs on Chinese technology, has the challenge of producing 144 million diapers a year, or 10% of domestic demand.
Like other government projects ranging from wine-bottling plants to tractor factories, it is part of Chavez's ambitious attempt to build up oil-rich Venezuela's state-led manufacturing prowess.
But the government's channeling of oil income into government-run factories has done little for the manufacturing sector, and production declines played a big part in the country's 2.4% economic contraction in the second quarter.
The bulging roster of state-run factories has also failed to offset the closure of 4,000 manufacturing firms under the weight of Chavez's socialist drive, according to Conindustria, a business chamber for Venezuela's industrial companies.
Manufacturing dropped 8.5% in the second quarter, and has been singled out as the most distressing indicator to come out of the April-through-June data.
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