Fuel, Food Shortage Deteriorating in Venezuela

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, December 22, 2002

Fuel, Food Shortage Deteriorating in Venezuela

The fuel and food shortage in Venezuela triggered by the three-week-long nationwide strike is deteriorating as the opposition continued to demand the resignation of President Hugo Chavez.

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The fuel and food shortage in Venezuela triggered by the three-week-long nationwide strike is deteriorating as the opposition continued to demand the resignation of President Hugo Chavez.

The strike, called by the opposition to press for an early referendum on the rule of President Chavez, has crippled the oil industry, the pillar of the country's economy.

Venezuela is the largest oil producer in Latin America and the world's fifth biggest oil exporter, where gasoline costs less than

bottled water. Now car drivers in the country are waking up to the

incredible reality of nationwide gas shortages.

Long lines are seen at gas stations around the country as nervous motorists rush to fill up. Many pumps have run dry while others are besieged by desperate Venezuelans.

Juan Vaquero, president of the National Federation of Service Stations, said that at least 80 percent of the gas stations in Caracas, capital of Venezuela, have run out of oil. Caracas accounts for 30 percent of the country's total population.

To ease the fuel shortage, the Venezuelan government on Wednesday authorized the military to commandeer private ships, trucks and planes to keep supplies running.

Venezuela's Supreme Court on Thursday issued a ruling, ordering

a restart of state oil operation halted by the opposition strike.

But the opposition leaders rejected the ruling, saying that they would press ahead with the shutdown that has also rattled global markets

The shutdown has crippled South America's largest oil producer, slashing its oil output to less than 15 percent of normal.

Lack of fuel has also significantly cut the transportation of food. Food supplies in Caracas has reached a critical stage. People swarmed into supermarkets, but most have run out of such goods as corn flour, wheat flour and soft drinks.

The opposition has blamed Chavez, who was elected in 1998 and whose presidential term expires in 2007, for plunging the country into the worst recession in more than a decade.

In April this year, Chavez was briefly ousted in a coup but later restored to power by his supporters.

With the strike still going on and Christmas approaching, the Venezuelans will surely spend their Christmas holiday amid the fuel and food shortage.

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