Venezuela’s economic catastrophe is getting worse by the day. The energy shortage has created rolling blackouts; government has shortened workweeks to two days, and the level of hunger that has arisen from the country’s inability to provide has led to looting and now locals are hunting dogs, cats, and birds for food. In all, 21st century socialism has evolved into a total nightmare. Venezuela is literally at a point where the country is so broke it can’t print its own currency. Government food dispensaries are being ransacked. At a wholesale market in Maracay, 5,000 people stormed the establishment, marking a week of looting that left two people dead and millions of dollars worth of damage (via PanAm Post):
Venezuela saw a new wave of looting this week that resulted in at least two deaths, countless wounded, and millions of dollars in losses and damages.On the morning of Wednesday, May 11, a crowd sacked the Maracay Wholesale Market in the central region of Venezuela.
According to the testimonies of merchants, the endless food lines that Venezuelans have been enduring to do groceries could not be organized that day.
As time went by, desperate Venezuelans grew anxious over not being able to buy food. Then they started jumping over the gates.
“They took milk, pasta, flour, oil, and milk powder. There were 5,000 people,”one witness told Venezuela outlet El Estímulo.
People from across the entire state came to the supermarket because there were rumors that some products not found anywhere else would be sold there.
“There were 250 people for each National Guard officer… lots of people and few soldiers. At least one officer was beat up because he tried to stop the crowd,” another source told El Estímulo.
[…]
On April 27, the Venezuelan Chamber of Food (Cavidea) reported that the country’s food producers only had 15 days left of inventory.
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PanAm Post added that similar events occurred outside the capital of Caracas:
Lootings are becoming a common occurrence in Venezuela, as the country’s food shortage resulted in yet another reported incident of violence in a supermarket — this time in the Luvebras Automarket located in the La Florida Province of Caracas.Videos posted to social media showed desperate people falling over each other trying to get bags of rice. One user claimed the looting occurred because it is difficult to get cereal, and so people “broke down the doors and damaged infrastructure.”
In the central province of Carabobo, residents ransacked a corn warehouse located in the coastal city of Puerto Cabello. They reportedly broke down the gate because workers were giving away small portions.
“There’s no rice, no pasta, no flour,” resident Glerimar Yohan told La Costa, “only hunger.”
Yohan, like the approximately 50 other people asking employees to give her a “little bit” of corn to feed her children for breakfast, was turned away.
While food shortages are pervasive, so is the lack of medical supplies. Babies dying in hospitals and people dying from serious medical conditions, like epilepsy, are becoming more frequent occurrences. So, take a bow Chavistas—you’ve totally destroyed the country.
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