The country's embattled socialist government said it will import 50 million rolls and blamed political opponents for the shortages.
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A woman emerges from a store with toilet paper |
CARACAS, Venezuela — First milk, butter, coffee and cornmeal ran short. Now Venezuela is running out of the most basic of necessities — toilet paper.Blaming political opponents for the shortfall, the country's embattled socialist government said it will import 50 million rolls.
That was little comfort to consumers who struggled to find toilet paper in stores Wednesday.
Manuel Fagundes, a shopper hunting for tissue in downtown Caracas, said: "I'm 71 years old and this is the first time I've seen this."
Economists said Venezuela's shortages stem from price controls meant to make basic goods available to the poorest parts of society and to the government's controls on foreign currency needed to pay for imports.
The government claims anti-government forces including the private sector are causing the shortages to destabilize the country.
For the past seven years, Venezuela, a major oil exporter, has seen sporadic shortages of some basic foods like milk and butter. The country of 30 million people still imports nearly 70 percent of its food.
Under the socialist government of Hugo Chavez who died March 5 and later his hand-picked successor Nicolas Maduro, shoppers have been unable to count on finding sugar, cornmeal for Venezuela's beloved arepas and other goods when they go to market.
Chavez made agrarian reform a pillar of his "revolution" and vowed to turn Venezuela into a self-sufficient, food-exporting power. His government expropriated 5.7 million acres of farmland over the last 12 years that he said were misused. He nationalized food-producing companies whose owners he claimed were gouging the people, conspiring against his government, or both. For some products such as rice and coffee, the government-controlled market share has ranged from 40 percent to 75 percent.
