Shortages in Venezuela of food staples and basic necessities have occurred throughout Venezuela's history. Scarcity became more widespread following the enactment of price controls and other policies under the government of Hugo Chávez and exacerbated by the policy of withholding United States dollars from importers under the government of Nicolás Maduro. The severity of the shortages led to the largest refugee crisis ever recorded in the Americas.
The Maduro administration denied the extent of the crisis and refused to accept humanitarian aid from Amnesty International, the United Nations, and other groups while conditions worsened. The United Nations and the Organization of American States stated that the shortages resulted in preventable deaths in Venezuela and urged the government to accept humanitarian aid. Though The New York Times asserts that the Maduro administration and its economic irresponsibility directly caused a lack of food, Maduro stated that the country had adequate access to food.
During the shortages, milk, meat, coffee, rice, oil, precooked flour, butter, toilet paper, personal hygiene products, and medicines were scarce. By January 2017, the shortage of medicines reached 85%, according to the Pharmaceutical Federation of Venezuela (Federación Farmacéutica de Venezuela). Hours-long lines were common, and those who waited did not always receive service. Some Venezuelans resorted to eating wild fruit and garbage.
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. 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.
History
Chávez administration
Since the 1990s, food production in Venezuela has dropped continuously, with Hugo Chávez's Bolivarian government beginning to rely upon imported food using the country's then-large oil profits.
In 2003, the government created CADIVI (now CENCOEX), a currency control board charged with handling foreign exchange procedures to control capital flight by placing currency limits on individuals. Such currency controls were determined to be the cause of shortages according to many economists and other experts. However, the Venezuelan government blamed other entities such as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and smugglers for shortages, stating that an "economic war" had been declared on Venezuela.
During the presidency of Chávez, Venezuela faced occasional shortages owing to high inflation and government financial inefficiencies. In 2005, Chávez announced the initiation of Venezuela's own "great leap forward", following the example of Mao Zedong's Great Leap Forward. An increase in shortages began to occur that year as 5% of items became unavailable according to the Central Bank of Venezuela. Common shortages in Venezuela started as early as 2008 in government-run food networks, such as Mercal and PDVAL. In January 2008, 24.7% of goods were reported to be unavailable in Venezuela, with the scarcity of goods remaining high until May 2008, when there was a shortage of 16.3% of goods. However, shortages increased again in January 2012 to nearly the same rate as in 2008.
Maduro administration
Following Chávez's death and the election of his successor Nicolás Maduro in 2013, shortage rates continued to increase and reached a record high of 28% in February 2014. Venezuela stopped reporting its shortage data after the rate stood at 28%. In January 2015, the hashtag #AnaquelesVaciosEnVenezuela (or #EmptyShelvesInVenezuela) was the number one trending topic on Twitter in Venezuela for two days, with Venezuelans posting pictures of empty store shelves around the country.
In August 2015, American private intelligence agency company Stratfor used two satellite images of Puerto Cabello, Venezuela's main port used for importing goods, to show how severe shortages had become in Venezuela. One image from February 2012 showed the ports full of shipping containers when the Venezuelan government's spending was near a historic high before the 2012 Venezuela presidential election. A second image from June 2015 shows the port with many fewer containers, since the Venezuelan government could no longer afford to import goods, as oil revenues dropped. At the end of 2015, it was estimated there was a shortage of over 75% of goods in Venezuela.
By May 2016, experts feared that Venezuela was possibly entering a period of famine, with President Maduro encouraging Venezuelans to cultivate their own food. In January 2016, it was estimated, that the food scarcity rate (indicador de escasez) was between 50% and 80%. The newly elected National Assembly, composed primarily of opposition delegates, declared a national food crisis a month later in February 2016. Many Venezuelans then began to suffer from shortages of common utilities, such as electricity and water, because of the prolonged period of mishandling and corruption under the Maduro government. By July 2016, Venezuelans desperate for food moved to the Colombian border. Over 500 women stormed past Venezuelan National Guard troops into Colombia looking for food on 6 July 2016. By 10 July 2016, Venezuela temporarily opened its borders, which had been closed since August 2015, for 12 hours. Over 35,000 Venezuelans traveled to Colombia for food within that period. Between 16–17 July, over 123,000 Venezuelans crossed into Colombia seeking food. The Colombian government set up what it called a "humanitarian corridor" to welcome Venezuelans. Around the same time in July 2016, reports of desperate Venezuelans rummaging through garbage for food appeared.
By early 2017, priests began telling Venezuelans to label their garbage so needy individuals could feed on their refuse. In March 2017, despite having the largest oil reserves in the world, some regions of Venezuela began having shortages of gasoline with reports that fuel imports had begun. The government continued to deny there was a humanitarian crisis, instead saying there was simply less availability of food. Yván Gil, vice minister of relations to the European Union, said that an economic war had affected "the availability of food, but [Venezuela is] still within the thresholds set by the UN". Following targeted sanctions by the United States government in late-2017 due to the controversial Constituent National Assembly elections, the Maduro government began to blame the United States for shortages. It enacted 'Plan Rabbit', encouraging Venezuelans to breed rabbits, slaughter them and eat their meat.
By early 2018, gasoline shortages began to spread, with hundreds of drivers in some regions waiting in lines to fill their tanks, sleeping overnight in their vehicles during the process. In a September 2018 Meganálisis survey, nearly one-third of Venezuelans stated they consumed only one meal per day while 78.6 percent of respondents said they had issues with food security.
The Wall Street Journal reported in March 2019 that parts of barrio La Vega had been without water for almost a year; residents of the town of 120,000 said that water trucks come by infrequently, sometimes only to supply government supporters.
Relaxed currency regulations
Following increased international sanctions throughout 2019 during the Venezuelan presidential crisis, the Maduro government relaxed price and currency control policies established by Chávez, which resulted in the country seeing a rebound from economic decline. After the Maduro administration enacted less strict currency regulations, shortages in Venezuela subsided.
In a November 2019 interview with José Vicente Rangel, President Nicolás Maduro described dollarization as an "escape valve" that helps the recovery of the country, the spread of productive forces in the country and the economy. However, Maduro said that the Venezuelan bolívar will still remain as the national currency.
Causes
Government policies
Overspending and import reliance
President Hugo Chávez's policies relied heavily on oil revenues to fund large quantities of imports. Production under Chávez dropped because of his price control policies and poorly managed expropriations. His successor, Nicolás Maduro, continued most of Chávez's policies until they became unsustainable. When oil profits began declining in 2014, Maduro began limiting imports needed by Venezuelans and shortages began to grow. Foreign reserves, usually saved for economic distress, were being spent to service debt and to avoid default, instead of being used to purchase imported goods. Domestic production, which had already been damaged by government policies, was unable to replace the necessary imported goods.
According to economist Ángel Alayón, the availability of food throughout Venezuela is directly controlled and distributed by the government, even that through private companies. Alayón states the problem is not distribution, however, but production; he claims that nothing is being produced so over-regulation of distributors is irrelevant. Expropriations by the government resulted in a drop in production in Venezuela. According to Miguel Angel Santos, a researcher at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, the industry of goods production in Venezuela was destroyed as a result of expropriations of private means of production since 2004, while a growth in import consumerism occurred when Venezuela had abundant oil money. The drop of oil prices beginning in 2014 made it impossible for the government to import necessary goods for Venezuelans, though by this point the country was largely reliant on imports.
Currency and price controls
In the first few years Chávez was in office, his newly created social programs required large amounts of funding to make the desired changes. On 5 February 2003, the government created CADIVI, a currency control board charged with handling foreign exchange transactions. It was created to control the flight of capital from the country by placing limits on the amount of foreign currency individuals could purchase. The Chávez administration also enacted agricultural measures that caused food imports to rise dramatically. This slowed domestic production of beef, rice, and milk. With Venezuela's reliance on imports and its lack of US dollars to pay for them, shortages resulted.
With limits on foreign currency, a currency black market developed since Venezuelan merchants relied on the import of goods that required payments with reliable foreign currencies. As Venezuela printed more money for their social programs, the bolívar continued to devalue for Venezuelan citizens and merchants since the government held most of the more reliable currencies. Because merchants could purchase only limited amounts of necessary foreign currency from the Venezuelan government, they resorted to the black market. This in turn raised the merchant's costs which resulted in price increases for consumers. The high black market rates made it difficult for businesses to purchase necessary goods or earn profits since the government often forced them to make price cuts. Maduro's government increased price controls after inflation grew and shortages of basic goods worsened. He called the policy an economic counterattack against the "parasitic bourgeoisie". Price regulators, with military backing, forced businesses to lower prices on everything from electronics to toys. For example, Venezuelan McDonald's franchises began offering a Big Mac meal for 69 bolivars or $10.90 in January 2014, though only making $1 at the black market rate. Since businesses made lower profits, this led to further shortages because they could not afford to pay to import or produce the goods that Venezuela relies on.
With the short supply of foreign currencies and Venezuela's reliance on imports, debt is created. Without settling its outstanding debt, Venezuela could not import the materials necessary for domestic production. Without such imports, more shortages were created since there was an increasing lack of production as well.
Corruption
Following mass looting in June 2016 due to shortages which resulted in the deaths of at least three, on 12 July 2016, President Maduro granted Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López the power to oversee product transportation, price controls, and the Bolivarian missions. He also had his military oversee five of Venezuela's main ports. Maduro's actions made Padrino one of the most powerful people in Venezuela.