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Ok I'm digging in to this one for fun and I found this article from in 2005 when the Venezuelan military seized a Heinz ketchup factory and then the government declared it public property.

The take-over of the Heinz plant in the town of Caicara, Monagas, was carried out by Venezuelan troops at the request of the pro-Chavez state governor, José Gregorio Briceño.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/1352

Then this post from 1 year 3 months ago says Heinz wants to double production, and is sending seeds to farmers to increase tomato production to feed their factories.

Perhaps they overproduced and created far too much ketchup and now this oversupply is the only food left available? And since the government seized the Heinz factory (maybe all of them in venezuela) it would make sense.

This year, Heinz supplied all of the seeds, all of the inputs (fertilizer and plant-health products) and irrigation equipment (including drip irrigation) and has committed itself to buying the crop.

http://www.tomatonews.com/en/venezuela-heinz-wants-to-double-production-in-2018_2_238.html

So maybe it's like this.... Heinz injected a ton of money in to increasing tomato output in Venezuela, then the factories made all the ketchup, then it's the only thing left in the stores. Why is there no other food? Because other companies aren't supplying manufacturing goods for free like Heinz is.

What I don't understand is, how does Heinz benefit from this? If the gov't owns the factories, and therefore Heinz probably isn't seeing revenue from sales in Venezuela, why does Heinz care so much about giving stuff to them for free? It doesn't seem like a profitable move.

Unless they're getting some other type of kickback... like Heinz has a deal with the Venezuelan government, meaning John Kerry's wife has a deal with the Venezuelan government, aka political favors are now in play.

Maybe I'm wrong, but it's very interesting. I'd like to see if other stores also only have Heinz ketchup. I'd also like to know what percent of Heinz factories in Venezuela are owned and operated by the Venezuelan government. I'd wager it's near 100%. Although here's an article from 2015 about Maduro getting pissed at one branch of a heinz for "attempting to sow discontent by paralyzing production lines": https://static2.businessinsider.com/ap-venezuela-president-maduro-threatens-to-jail-heinz-managers-2015-12

Interesting little rabbit hole. Never would've expected I'd spend an hour reading about Ketchup manufacturing in Venezuela lol