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Venezuela's deepening food crisis sees ransacked stores, deadly riots
CBC:What started as persistent food shortages under President Hugo Chavez has turned into a food crisis under the Nicolas Maduro government, elected in 2013. A tour of Maracaibo last month showed the crisis is especially dire.
Socialist economic policies that have put the government in charge of much of the country's food production and distribution have dramatically reduced the supply of rice, pasta, milk and other basic staples.
Meanwhile, falling prices for oil, which accounts for nearly all of Venezuela's export income, mean President Maduro's government has far less money to import food.
The result is that in the country with the world's largest oil reserves, people are ransacking grocery stores, restaurants, warehouses and even food delivery trucks. A Venezuelan monitoring group, Observatory for Violence, says there are about 10 lootings per day around the country, with food riots sometimes turning deadly.
Socialist economic policies that have put the government in charge of much of the country's food production and distribution have dramatically reduced the supply of rice, pasta, milk and other basic staples.
Meanwhile, falling prices for oil, which accounts for nearly all of Venezuela's export income, mean President Maduro's government has far less money to import food.
The result is that in the country with the world's largest oil reserves, people are ransacking grocery stores, restaurants, warehouses and even food delivery trucks. A Venezuelan monitoring group, Observatory for Violence, says there are about 10 lootings per day around the country, with food riots sometimes turning deadly.