Food Shortages, Empty Supermarket Shelves, Leave Many without Option May 12, 2016
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.
Warehouse workers indicated that people managed to get about 50 bags of unprocessed corn.
According to the local newspaper, Carabobo and municipal police later arrived to the scene and took control of the situation, but not before residents set tires and other objects on fire.
The mayor of Chacao Ramon Muchacho warned that Caribbean islands and Colombia may suffer an influx of refugees from Venezuela if food shortages continue in the country.
“As hunger deepens, we could see more Venezuelans fleeing by land or sea to an island,” Muchacho said.
The mayor’s statements come after Curaçao President of the Red Cross Angelo Ramirez reported that the island is preparing itself for possible Venezuelan refugees “in the event that the situation in Venezuela becomes worse.”
Muchacho recently reported that with so little food available on supermarket shelves, Venezuelans have taken to the streets to hunt pigeons and other animals — even in the richer regions of Caracas.
https://youtu.be/YG7lMJJOOdc
Source: El Nacional.
Read More: Gasoline Shortage Looms in Oil-Producing Venezuela https://panampost.com/sabrina-martin/2016/05/09/67610/
Country's Main Refinery Shut Downs for 45 to 60 Days May 9, 2016
Venezuelans have yet another hardship to overcome in trying to survive the country’s economic crisis, as it was announced Monday, May 9 that the El Palito Refinery — the main supplier of fuel in Venezuela — has halted operations with less than 10 days of inventory remaining.
The newspaper La Verdad reported that the stoppage will last 45 to 60 days.
Executive Secretary for the United Federation of Oil Workers Rober González told the newspaper that Venezuelan refineries may have been sabotaged by some contractors and managers.
On top of this report, the newspaper wrote last Friday, May 6 that there are very few days-worth of gasoline left.
According to Secretary General of the Falcón Oil and Gasoline Workers Syndicate, “a ship of 150,000 barrels of Tame, an oxidant used to obtain the necessary octane rating in petroleum, is stalled at the Cardón refinery. They asked for payment in cash, but Petróleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa) has not completed the payment to date.”
Fréites said the situation has become “serious” because Venezuela only receives 10 to 15 shipments with 300,000 barrels of gasoline each month.
According to La Verdad, Complejo Paraguaná Refinery operates at a 108,000-barrel capacity, but reported it was only processing 60,000 barrels per day.
The Cardón Refinery also stopped production starting March 31, while El Palito, able to produce 140,000 barrels, produced 70,000 daily until stopping altogether.
In the Puerto La Cruz Plant, workers reported that production is only operating at 30 percent capacity.
“We have turned refineries into plants that just mix and repackage [imported] fuels,” Freites said. “The situation is so extraordinary that we have even imported gasoline from Spain, something unheard of. The Venezuelan state also orders fuels from the United States, Russia and India through a foreign PDVSA subsidiary, Citgo, because the government no longer has credit lines available abroad.”
Source: La Verdad.
Read More: Maduro Revokes Venezuelan Congress’ Constitutional Powers
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Read More: Hungry Venezuelans Hunt Dogs, Cats, Pigeons as Food Runs Out
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President of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro has revoked the National Assembly’s constitutional power to impeach government officials.
“According to Article No. 236, paragraph seven of the constitution, motions of censure that could allow the National Assembly to impeach officials or the vice president will be restricted until the economic emergency expires,” read the presidential decree No. 2,309.
According to the National Assembly, the president’s actions “go against constitutional order,” which has “fostered a confrontational atmosphere.”
The president’s decision comes after the National Assembly decided to dismiss the Minister of Food Rodolfo Marco Torres, who was responsible for the country’s severe food shortages.
Torres said the dismissal was based on “distorted facts, with political motivations.”
Maduro had told the President of the National Assembly Henry Ramos Allup that Torres should not be removed. “I tell you that this decision irritates me … Nobody will remove the minister from office,” Maduro said.
A Supreme Court ruling extended the economic emergency decree that gives special powers to Maduro for 60 days.
Maduro issued a decree in January that authorized the government to dispose of private property to “guarantee the supply of commodities,” limit the inflow and outflow of local currency in cash and facilitate the delivery of foreign exchange to speed imports.
The National Assembly, controlled by the opposition, rejected the emergency decree on the grounds that the president could resolve the economic crisis with laws that were already in place. However, the Supreme Court, in constant confrontation with the legislature, extended the emergency decree anyway.
Source: 2001, El Impulso, NTN24.
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