This article needs to be updated. The reason given is: date says 2010-2019, which was almost 5 years ago. Is it still ongoing? The lead needs to make it clear the timeline of this event in the first paragraph. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(November 2023)
Shortages in Venezuela
Part of the Crisis in Venezuela
Top to bottom, left to right: A man eating from garbage; empty shelves in a store; people lining up to enter a store
Date
2008[1] – 2019[2][3]
Location
Venezuela
Cause
Government policies, low oil prices and corruption[4][5][3]
Outcome
Hunger, disease, civil unrest and refugee crisis
Maduro government relaxes currency exchange regulations[3]
Crisis in Venezuela
Causes
Bolivarian Revolution
Chavismo
Economic policy under Hugo Chávez
Economic policy under Nicolás Maduro
Effects
Refugee crisis
Blackouts
Energy crisis
Defections
International sanctions
Interventions of political parties
Piracy
Shortages
Venezuela–Colombia migrant crisis
Hyperinflation
Catatumbo campaign
Xenophobic incidents
Pemon conflict
Events
Dakazo
La Salida
Arrest of Antonio Ledezma
2016 recall movement
2017 Venezuelan constitutional crisis
Lima Group
2018 re-election campaign of Nicolás Maduro
Venezuelan presidential crisis
2019 shipping of humanitarian aid to Venezuela
Venezuela Aid Live
COVID-19 pandemic
2022 recall movement
2023 Unitary Platform presidential primaries
Elections
2013 presidential election
2015 parliamentary election
2017 referendum
2017 Constituent Assembly election
2018 presidential election
2020 parliamentary election
2023 referendum
Protests
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
Timeline
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
Armed violence
Caracas helicopter incident
2017 National Assembly attack
Attack on Fort Paramacay
El Junquito raid
Caracas drone attack
2019 uprising attempt
2020 Barquisimeto shooting
Operation Gideon (2020)
2021 Apure clashes
2022 Arauca clashes
Venezuela portal
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Shortages in Venezuela of food staples and basic necessities occurred throughout Venezuela's history.[6] Scarcity became more widespread following the enactment of price controls and other policies under the government of Hugo Chávez[7][8] and exacerbated by the policy of withholding United States dollars from importers under the government of Nicolás Maduro.[9] The severity of the shortages led to the largest refugee crisis ever recorded in the Americas.[10]
The Maduro administration denied the extent of the crisis;[11] and refused to accept humanitarian aid from Amnesty International, the United Nations, and other groups while conditions worsened.[12][13] The United Nations and the Organization of American States stated that the shortages resulted in unnecessary deaths in Venezuela and urged the government to accept humanitarian aid.[14] Though The New York Times asserts that the Maduro administration and its economic irresponsibility directly caused a lack of food,[15] Maduro stated that the country had adequate access to food.[16]
During the shortages, milk, meat, coffee, rice, oil, precooked flour, butter, toilet paper, personal hygiene products and medicines were scarce.[7][17][18] By January 2017, the shortage of medicines reached 85%, according to the Pharmaceutical Federation of Venezuela (Federación Farmacéutica de Venezuela).[19] Hours-long lines were common, and those who waited did always receive service.[clarification needed] Some Venezuelans resorted to eating wild fruit and garbage.[20][21][22][23]
On 9 February 2018, a group of United Nations Special Procedures and the Special Rapporteurs on food, health, adequate housing and extreme poverty issued a joint statement on Venezuela, declaring that much of its population was starving and going without in a situation that they do not believe will end.[24] A year later in 2019, the Maduro administration relaxed the nation's strict currency exchange regulations and shortages subsided in Venezuela while the economy became unofficially dollarized.[3][25]
^"The Hugo Chávez Show". Frontline. 25 November 2008. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
^McElroy, Damien (23 June 2010). "Chavez pushes Venezuela into food war". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 13 February 2017. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
^ abcdBuschschlüter, Vanessa (1 May 2019). "Venezuela crisis in brief". BBC News. Retrieved 24 January 2024. With the economy in freefall, Mr Maduro in 2019 relaxed some of the strict foreign currency regulations brought in by Chávez. Shortages eased as a result ...
^Dreier, Hannah; Goodman, Joshua (28 December 2016). "Venezuela military trafficking food as country goes hungry". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 20 January 2017. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
^Milne, Seumas; Watts, Jonathan (8 April 2014). "Venezuela protests are sign that US wants our oil, says Nicolás Maduro". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 8 April 2014. Retrieved 9 April 2014.
^Felicien, Ana; Schiavoni, Christina; Venezuela, Liccia RomeroTopics: Agriculture Ecology Movements Places: Americas (1 June 2018). "The Politics of Food in Venezuela". Monthly Review. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
^ ab"Venezuela's currency: The not-so-strong bolívar". The Economist. 11 February 2013. Archived from the original on 19 February 2013. Retrieved 18 February 2013.
^"Venezuela's black market rate for US dollars just jumped by almost 40%". Quartz. 26 March 2014. Archived from the original on 26 March 2014. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
^Dulaney, Chelsey; Vyas, Kejal (16 September 2014). "S&P Downgrades Venezuela on Worsening Economy Rising Inflation, Economic Pressures Prompt Rating Cut". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 18 September 2014. Retrieved 18 September 2014.
^Board, Editorial (23 February 2018). "Opinion | Latin-America's worst-ever refugee crisis: Venezuelans". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 25 February 2018. Retrieved 25 February 2018. This human outflow, ... is the largest displacement of people in Latin American history * Hylton, Wil S. (9 March 2018). "Leopoldo López Speaks Out, and Venezuela's Government Cracks Down". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 12 March 2018. Retrieved 12 March 2018. Venezuela is the most urgent humanitarian disaster in the Western Hemisphere, producing the largest exodus of refugees in the history of the Americas * "Venezuela's mounting refugee crisis". Financial Times. 20 April 2018. Archived from the original on 22 April 2018. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
^"Maduro niega la diáspora venezolana en la ONU: Se ha fabricado por distintas vías una crisis migratoria". LaPatilla.com (in European Spanish). 26 September 2018. Archived from the original on 27 September 2018. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
^Charner, Flora (14 October 2016). "The face of hunger in Venezuela". CNN. Archived from the original on 23 March 2019. Retrieved 22 March 2019. The Venezuelan government has denied food and humanitarian aid from international organizations like Amnesty International and the United Nations. The IMF forecasts Venezuela's economy will shrink 10% this year, worse than its previous estimate of 8%. It also estimates that inflation in Venezuela will catapult to 700% this year, up from an earlier guess of 480%.
^Vyas, Kejal; Dube, Ryan (6 April 2018). "Venezuelans Die as Maduro Government Refuses Medical Aid". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Archived from the original on 7 April 2018. Retrieved 7 April 2018. With Venezuela's state-run health-care system in ruins and the country's economy collapsing, the government last year stopped supplying the pills Ms. Solorzano needed to keep her organ functioning, her family and her doctor said. ... Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's cash-strapped Socialist regime prohibits most international humanitarian donations – including contributions of lifesaving medicines – except from a few remaining allies such as Russia. The authoritarian leader and his lieutenants have denied the country is in a humanitarian crisis and they consider international aid part of a ploy by the U.S. and political rivals to besmirch the government and open the door to foreign intervention. Public health has deteriorated sharply in what used to be one of Latin America's richest nations. Venezuela's infant mortality rate was higher than in Syria in 2016, according to Health Ministry figures. Cases of diphtheria and malaria, diseases controlled by most Latin American nations, have increased amid a lack of vaccinations, the ministry said. * Glüsing, Jens (8 August 2018). "The Country of Hunger: A State of Deep Suffering in Venezuela's Hospitals". Der Spiegel. Archived from the original on 10 August 2018. Retrieved 11 August 2018. Venezuela has the largest known oil reserves in the world, but under the leadership of Nicolas Maduro, its hospitals lack equipment, medicines, food, anesthetics and even pens. Under Chavez's successor, Nicolas Maduro, the country fell into an existential crisis.The government provides little money to the hospitals, but won't allow any aid into the country either. Doing so would make it clear that Maduro's autocratic government has failed. According to UNICEF, 15 percent of all children in Venezuela are undernourished. The child mortality rate in the country has risen dramatically in the past few years. The government is trying to cover up the crisis and has been keeping most of the health statistics secret for years.
^"ONU y OEA denuncian muertes por escasez de medicamentos, falta de higiene y deterioro de hospitales en Venezuela". LaPatilla.com (in European Spanish). 2 October 2018. Archived from the original on 3 October 2018. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
^"Venezuela blackout, in 2nd day, threatens food supplies and patient lives". The New York Times. 8 March 2019. Archived from the original on 16 March 2019. Retrieved 18 March 2019. The Maduro administration has been responsible for grossly mismanaging the economy and plunging the country into a deep humanitarian crisis in which many people lack food and medical care. He has also attempted to crush the opposition by jailing or exiling critics, and using lethal force against antigovernment protesters.
^"Nicolás Maduro en entrevista con la BBC: "El Ku Klux Klan que hoy gobierna la Casa Blanca quiere apoderarse de Venezuela"". BBC News. 12 February 2019. Archived from the original on 13 February 2019. Retrieved 12 February 2019.
^"La escasez también frena tratamientos contra cáncer". Archived from the original on 26 August 2014. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
^"Venezuela sufre escasez de prótesis mamarias". Archived from the original on 25 August 2014. Retrieved 25 August 2014. * "Why are Venezuelans posting pictures of empty shelves?". BBC. 8 January 2015. Archived from the original on 9 January 2015. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
^Caraballo-Arias, Yohama; Madrid, Jesús; Barrios, Marcial (25 September 2018). "Working in Venezuela: How the Crisis has Affected the Labor Conditions". Annals of Global Health. 84 (3): 512–522. doi:10.29024/aogh.2325. ISSN 2214-9996. PMC 6748246. PMID 30835391.
^Cawthorne, Andrew (21 January 2015). "In shortages-hit Venezuela, lining up becomes a profession". Reuters. Archived from the original on 6 June 2015. Retrieved 17 June 2015.
^MacDonald, Elizabeth (26 May 2016). "Exclusive: Harrowing Video Shows Starving Venezuelans Eating Garbage, Looting". Fox Business. Archived from the original on 7 July 2016. Retrieved 12 July 2016.
^Sanchez, Fabiola (8 June 2016). "As hunger mounts, Venezuelans turn to trash for food". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 14 July 2016. Retrieved 12 July 2016.
^"Mangoes fill the gaps in Venezuela's food crisis". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 7 June 2016. Archived from the original on 18 July 2016. Retrieved 12 July 2016.
^"Venezuela: Dire living conditions worsening by the day, UN human rights experts warn". Archived from the original on 26 September 2018. Retrieved 25 September 2018.
^Cite error: The named reference :6 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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