Venezuela crisis: Hunger makes people turn to rubbish for scraps

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A pregnant woman who did not want to be named holds a pineapple in one hand as she continues to pick through garbage bags outside a supermarket in downtown Caracas. Photo: AP

 

Caracas: Until recently, Julio Noguera worked at a bakery. Now he spends his evenings searching through the garbage for food.

“I come here looking for food because if I didn’t, I’d starve to death,” Noguera said as he sorted through a pile of mouldy potatoes. “With things like they are, no one helps anyone and no one gives away meals.”

Across town, unemployed people converge every dusk at a trash heap on a downtown Caracas sidewalk to pick through rotten fruit and vegetables tossed out by nearby shops. They are frequently joined by small business owners, college students and pensioners – people who consider themselves middle class even though their living standards have long been pulverised by triple-digit inflation, food shortages and a collapsing currency.