Venezuela is installing fingerprint scanners in supermarkets to limit the amount of food people buy, as shortages worsen and the economy crumbles.
The socialist government said 20,000 scanners would be installed across the country after tests in the west, close to the border with Colombia, where smuggling is rampant.
President Nicolás Maduro, facing the prospect of economic collapse as the oil price crashes, said the move was to prevent panic buying and hoarding, as well as smuggling, which he blames for the shortages of even basic goods, such as toilet paper and flour.
“I ask for the the comprehension of all of Venezuela, to understand this problem, because there is a lot of manipulation taking place,” he said at the opening of a state-run supermarket that sells subsidised goods.
Under growing pressure, Mr Maduro has accused the opposition and the United States of plotting to overthrow him. The invective between Caracas and Washington intensified yesterday as President Obama described Venezuela as a threat to national security, put seven top Venezuelans on a sanctions list and condemned its human rights.
Advertisement
Economists said the poorly managed economy and corruption were the real cause of the country’s problems. Polls show that Venezuelans are beginning to agree, and Mr Maduro’s approval rating has slipped to just 22 per cent.
Economic reforms have failed to curb inflation and the black market that has arisen from strict price-fixing. A website tracking the black market exchange rate showed that the bolivar trades at one-fortieth of the official rate used to import products from abroad.
As rationing has been introduced, police have been stationed outside government-subsidised food shops to prevent rioting, and businessmen have been arrested on allegations of profiteering or even for not having enough cash tills, which the government says is intended to create long queues and provoke unrest. In some case, soldiers have been sent in to shops to sell goods at prices the government deems acceptable, creating stampedes as bargain-hunters rush to take advantage.
Many shopkeepers say the state-subsidised supermarkets have undermined their own businesses, and say that if they sold their goods at government prices they would be losing money.
The government is able to cut prices at state-owned shops by using money from the nationalised oil company. Since oil prices crashed, the government’s ability to keep afloat such programmes, which have made petrol cheaper than bottled water, has become questionable.
Advertisement
Some analysts are predicting growing civil unrest as the crisis worsens.