Venezuelans are storming supermarkets and attacking trucks as food supplies dwindle

A child in her house in Barlovento waits for lunch, which consists of only boiled yam. Food sold in the black market can be 1000 per cent higher than what it cost in government-regulated grocery stores. Photo: Washington Post

 

Caracas: In the darkness the warehouse looks like any other, a metal-roofed hangar next to a clattering overpass, with homeless people sleeping nearby in the shadows.

But inside, workers quietly unload black plastic crates filled with merchandise so valuable that mobs have looted delivery vehicles, shot up the windshields of trucks and hurled a rock into one driver’s eye. Soldiers and police milling around the loading depots give this neighbourhood the feel of a military garrison.

“It’s just cheese,” said Juan Urrea, a 29-year-old driver, as workers unloaded thousands of pounds of white Venezuelan queso from his delivery truck. “I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

Violent Riots And Looting Are Now A Daily Occurrence In Venezuela

 

Last month we reported that citizens in Venezuela had finally become so desperate for food that angry mobs flooded the streets and looted all of the supermarkets that were rumored to still have anything left on their shelves.

Not long after, tired and hungry protesters took to the streets of Caracas once again, this time marching toward the presidential palace as they chanted “No more talk – we want food!.” The mob was able to get within about six blocks of the palace before police in riot gear blocked the way, and began to shoot tear gas into the crowd to disperse the protest.

And now, as president Maduro remains defiant on allowing a referendum to take place to vote on his ouster, food riots and violent looting are taking place every day in a stark reminder of just how far the socialist utopia has fallen.

Food seizures begin: Venezuela farmers ordered to turn over their food to the government

(NaturalNews) As Venezuela’s economy continues to worsen — its currency having entered “free fall mode,” according to the Financial Times — the desperate Maduro government has taken the extreme measure of nationalizing the nation’s food industry.

Venezuelan farmers and food producers are now required to sell anywhere from 30 percent to 100 percent of their products to state-owned stores. The order covers staple foods such as rice, milk, oil, sugar and flour.

“Now There’s Not Even Soap” Maduro Heads To China To ‘Save’ Socialist Utopia Venezuela

 

Social media is awash with striking images of #EmptyShelvesInVenezuela (#AnaquelesVaciosEnVenezuela) as the evaporation of basic human staples such as toilet paper has now been hyperinflated to total chaos at warehouses and supermarkets. As President Maduro decries the loss of $100 oil “stability”, vowing to return oil prices to their rightful places (and heads to China for help), lines reach for miles for milk and soap… and the people defy governmental bans on photographing empty market shelves… “We couldn’t find shampoo, so we washed our hair with soap. Now there’s not even soap.”

Food rationing to begin in Venezuelan state

In a sign Venezuela’s food shortages could be worsening, restrictions on the sale of 20 basic items subject to price controls, including toilet paper and chicken, are set to begin next week in its most populous state, officials said on Tuesday.

A spokesman for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government said it is incorrect to call the plan rationing because it is meant to fight smuggling of price-controlled food across the border into Colombia. He said there are no plans to extend the program nationally.