Fiesta!

Venezuelans began to spend an estimated $39 million last week as freely as if it were water. They crowded Caracas stores to buy U.S.-made pedal-operated jeeps for their small fry. They stormed bars to set up drinks for friends and strangers. They shopped for Christmas presents, clothes, champagne, even Canadian-grown Christmas trees. They dropped silver bolivars into the hands of garbagemen, messengers, menials. Even the poorest of them splurged on big hallacas (tamales made from corn, chicken, spices, meat and rice) and bottles of rum.

All this took place because of an old Spanish custom brought up to date. For years, Venezuelan employers gave their workers a Christmas aguinaldo, an annual bonus, sometimes amounting to as much as two weeks' pay. In 1936, President Eleazar Lopez Contreras turned the aguinaldo principle into law. He decreed that employers must split 10% of their profits among their workers.

Succeeding governments have tinkered further with the law. As it stands now, at least 10% of net profits must be divided among employees according to their rate of pay. The bonus may not exceed two months' pay. Most prosperous employers consider one month's pay a minimum, and some even give more than two months' despite the law.

Not yet law, but having the force of law, is the unwritten custom that the bonus should be spent before New Year's. That gave the workers a fine sense of irresponsibility, permitted some businessmen to get back in trade more than they had paid in profit-sharing, and accounted for last week's fiesta.

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