Empresas Polar: a symbol of resistance amid Venezuela crisis

When Lorenzo Mendoza attends baseball games, crowds treat him like a star player. Baseball is Venezuela’s national sport and Mendoza, head of the Caracas-based food and drink producer Empresas Polar and once an avid amateur player, remains a big follower. His company sponsors several of the country’s leading teams. Venezuela is wrestling with its worst social, political, and economic crisis in living memory, however, and his sporting passion is not the main reason why the fans have greeted him with cheers and chants of support. Not only does his company stand out as a rare case of Venezuelan business resilience at a desperate time, but Mendoza himself has become a symbol of resistance. More…