Venezuela’s Socialism Has Triggered Looting Instead of Shopping

(Sabrina Martin)  EspañolLootings 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.