Venezuelans fume as government signals end to 'free' petrol

[Bacchus4.0]

In a country where petrol is cheaper than water, ministers say prices must increase for the first time since a rise 15 years ago sparked deadly riots

-----------
As global oil prices slump, President Nicolas Maduro has horrified Venezuelans by becoming the first politician in a decade to broach a rise in petrol prices. It is a risky – potentially even politically fatal – move. The last attempt to raise prices prompted the “Caracazo”, the 1989 riots and subsequent massacre by security forces that left several hundred people dead and which remains a vivid scar on the Venezuelan political memory.
-----------------------
But amid falling international oil prices and the severe economic woes in other sectors, that Socialist project is now stuttering. And in recent years, production problems at the state oil giant PDVSA have seen the country importing tens of thousands of barrels of refined petrol from the United States, as its refineries fail to cover domestic demand.

Meanwhile, an increasing proportion of exports are being used to pay back loans from overseas lenders such as China, forcing Venezuela to cut its more lucrative oil sales to the United States, now at a 28-year low

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/10617632/Venezuelans-fume-as-government-signals-end-to-free-petrol.html