CARACAS, Venezuela - Meat cuts vanished from Venezuelan supermarkets this week, leaving only unsavory bits like chicken feet, while costly artificial sweeteners have increasingly replaced sugar, and many staples sell far above government-fixed prices.

President Hugo Chavez's administration blames the food supply problems on unscrupulous speculators, but industry officials say government price controls that strangle profits are responsible. Authorities on Wednesday raided a warehouse in Caracas and seized seven tons of sugar hoarded by vendors unwilling to market the inventory at the official price.

Unsavory??? Unsavory???

Well, when I was a kid we were happy to get chicken feet. We used to get chicken lips and be grateful for them, I tell ya.

We were so poor that if I wasn't a boy I wouldn't have had anything to play with.