[BLOOMBERG] Shoppers thronged grocery stores across Caracas today as deepening shortages led the government to put Venezuelas food distribution under military protection.
Long lines, some stretching for blocks, formed outside grocery stores in the South American countrys capital as residents search for scarce basic items such as detergent and chicken.
I've visited six stores already today looking for detergent -- I cant find it anywhere, said Lisbeth Elsa, a 27-year-old janitor, waiting in line outside a supermarket in eastern Caracas. Were wearing our dirty clothes again because we cant find it. At this point Ill buy whatever I can find.
A dearth of foreign currency exacerbated by collapsing oil prices has led to shortages of imports from toilet paper to car batteries, and helped push annual inflation to 64 percent in November. The lines will persist as long as price controls remain in place, Luis Vicente Leon, director of Caracas-based polling firm Datanalisis, said today in a telephone interview. |