- Title: Venezuelans blockade streets to protest gas shortage in Andes
- Date: 21st September 2018
- Summary: SAN CRISTOBAL, VENEZUELA (SEPTEMBER 21, 2018) (REUTERS) GENERAL VIEW OF MAKESHIFT BLOCKADE, FIRE AT BLOCKADE FIRE AT BLOCKADE ELDERLY WOMAN ON ZIMMER FRAME GOING UNDER ROPE SET UP ACROSS BLOCKED STREET WOMAN ON ZIMMER FRAME WALKING ON BLOCKED STREET CARS AND MOTORBIKES ON ROAD MOTORBIKES ON ROAD OFFICERS ON DUTY ON BACK OF MOTORBIKE OFFICER PUTTING OUT FIRE AT BLOCKADE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) SAN CRISTOBAL LOCAL, MARIA PRATO, SAYING: "We're tired. We've been waiting four days in line for the gas truck to arrive. This a country of gasoline and there's no gasoline." CARS WAITING NEAR PETROL STATION EMPTY PETROL STATION THAT RAN OUT OF PETROL EMPTY PUMPS AT PETROL STATION SMOKE AT MAKESHIFT BLOCKADE CARS PARKED AT SIDE OF STREET WAITING FOR PETROL PEOPLE WAITING BY CAR FOR PETROL MAN SLEEPING IN CAR AS HE WAITS FOR PETROL CARS PARKED ON SIDE OF STREET (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) SAN CRISTOBAL LOCAL, JOSE GARCIA, SAYING: "We're really bad here, Tachira is being hit with gas (shortages). We are transport workers, I've got my car here. We're being punished. I don't know what's happening. There are many rumours (over the shortages) but we're spending our time (waiting) in a relaxed manner, playing dominoes with my wife and my friends. What else can we do to relax ourselves? That's the way it is in our country, if you want to move forward." PEOPLE PLAYING DOMINOES AS THEY WAIT FOR GAS DOMINOES BEING PLAYED PROTESTERS CHANTING "WE WANT GASOLINE" MAN WHO HAS SET UP HAMMOCK BY HIS PICK-UP TRUCK WAITING FOR PETROL MAN LYING IN HAMMOCK EMPTY PETROL STATION VEHICLE IN PETROL STATION
- Embargoed: 5th October 2018 23:42
- Keywords: road blocks crisis Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro fuel San Cristobal gas protest shortages
- Location: SAN CRISTOBAL, VENEZUELA
- City: SAN CRISTOBAL, VENEZUELA
- Country: Venezuela
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Civil Unrest
- Reuters ID: LVA0018YKMLVN
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Dozens of Venezuelans on Friday (September 21) brought the Andean city of San Cristobal to a standstill by blocking roads to protest gas shortages that have piled further misery on the OPEC nation's crisis-weary citizens.
Venezuela, which has the world's cheapest gasoline, has been plagued by intermittent fuel shortages in recent months as its oil industry struggles with lower production and problematic refineries.
Maduro's leftist government blamed the shortages on power cuts in nearby Zulia, an oil-producing state that is suffering near-daily blackouts because government-owned power stations lack maintenance and spare parts. Government critics say inept management of Venezuela's oil industry, home to the world's biggest crude reserves, is to blame for the shortages.
The government this month also rolled out a new payment system in eight states near the Colombian border, including Tachira where San Cristobal is located, in an attempt to halt widespread smuggling of Venezuela's gas to Colombia.
Maduro says the payment system will pave the way for charging international prices for fuel - a massive increase given that gas is now almost free - as his government seeks to shore up state coffers amid a hyperinflationary economic meltdown.
The pilot programme was designed to provide service stations with wireless devices that use a controversial state-backed identification document to carry out transactions. The document, called the Fatherland Card, is meant to provide subsidies to motorists to help soften the impact of the steep price increases.
Maduro announced on Thursday night that the program would be rolled out in the rest of Venezuela on Monday. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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