Shops shut after deadly looting in Venezuela crisis

Caracas, Jun 18: Residents barricaded their shops in a Venezuelan city hit by violence after the country's food crisis erupted into deadly looting.

The unrest came days ahead of a new key stage in the opposition's bid to remove President Nicolas Maduro from office: the authentication of signatures calling for a recall referendum. Police yesterday arrested hundreds of people in the latest unrest, which heightened hardship and political uncertainty in the impoverished oil-producing nation.

Some shop owners welded their shutters closed in the old colonial city of Cumana, where dozens of stores were looted on Tuesday. The Caribbean coastal city is the latest flashpoint in a crisis that has killed at least five people so far.

"It ended in total ruin because the businesses had not only their stock pillaged but also their furniture. It was total destruction," said Ruben Saud, president of the Cumana Chamber of Commerce. The army was sent in to keep order in Cumana after Tuesday's outbreak of looting, which erupted during a protest against food shortages.

The chaos started when gangs of looters on motorcycles raided trucks transporting supplies, he told AFP. "They were beating and robbing drivers. They pillaged trucks, bakeries and supermarkets." The state governor said more than 400 people were arrested in Cumana.

President Nicolas Maduro blamed the disturbances on his political opponents. He warned that those detained in the looting would receive tough penalties.

"They wanted to impose anarchy and madness," he said in a television and radio broadcast late Thursday.

"They are in jail and will be tried. They are facing charges that could bring up to 20 years in jail. I have ordered the toughest jail sentences possible." In Cumana, housewife Mari Febres, 45, was waiting for news of her two grownup daughters who went missing during Tuesday's disturbances.

"They went out into the street to look for food for their children," Febres said. "The police have them but they won't tell me anything. I have six grandchildren who want feeding. Two of them are still breastfeeding."

At least five people have died in disturbances in recent days, according to the state prosecution service. The opposition blames President Nicolas Maduro for an economic crisis in which Venezuelans are suffering shortages of basic foods and goods.

Maduro blames an "economic war" allegedly waged against his leftist government by the business elite.

AFP