![]() National guardsmen, rifles slung on their shoulders, and police are often deployed to prevent violence or incidents of line-jumping. dollars can afford free-market prices charged by unregulated small shops or rampant black-marketers known as bachaqueros.īut with the minimum wage at the equivalent of about $30 a month, most residents have no choice but to brave the lines in the hope of purchasing foodstuffs and other essentials at government-controlled prices. The poor and working classes, backbone of support for the late President Hugo Chavez, are suffering most. dollar, among the cheapest prices in the world, despite recent hikes. Lines are not a problem at gas stations, where motorists fill their tanks with subsidized fuel for the equivalent of less than 1 U.S. The shortages have eroded support for the socialist government of President Nicolas Maduro, whose party lost control of the national legislature in December elections. “How long can we take this?” asked a glum Salazar, who used his day off to purchase some basic goods. outside a supermarket, and still hadn’t made it inside more than seven hours later. We can’t go on like this,” said Andres Salazar, 58, a construction worker who had been in line since 5 a.m. Tortuous lines have been commonplace for a year or so, following the collapse in oil prices that helped trigger Venezuela’s economic free-fall.īut there is widespread consensus among scores interviewed that the lines are getting longer and that essential products more scarce, further testing Venezuelans’ collective patience. ![]() It is worth about 10 cents on the free market. The predictable result: prolonged lines at ATMs.Ĩ:43 a.m.: An earlier version of this story said the 100-bolivar bill was worth about 1 U.S. cents on the free market, many Venezuelans must make daily trips to the bank just to have some carrying cash. With the country’s largest-denomination note, the 100-bolivar bill, now worth about 10 U.S. Inflation next year is projected to hit 1,200%. One of the planet’s great oil producers is now unable to pay for basic commodities, like milk, flour and rice, which are mostly imported, triggering the severe shortages. Many Venezuelans trapped in lines these days come from poor, crime-ridden districts and travel vast distances to better-stocked markets in safer areas, a sensible precaution in a nation with a homicide rate among the highest in the world. At least 50 people were still ahead of her. It was almost 2 p.m., more than 12 hours after she began her expedition. The trip by public transport from her home in Manicomio, far to the west, had eaten up two hours.
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