Angry drivers queued for hours in towns across Venezuela on Friday as fuel shortages worsened in the South American nation following a plunge in gasoline imports and a stoppage at the nation’s second-largest oil refinery.
Shortages of motor fuel have become a periodic occurrence in the OPEC nation, particularly in border regions where smuggling to neighbouring countries is rife, the result of generous subsidies from state-run oil company PDVSA that have made gasoline nearly free in Venezuela.
But in recent days lines at gas stations in the western and southern border states of Tachira, Zulia and Bolivar have grown longer than usual, often lasting more than five hours, according to Reuters witnesses.
Unusually, hours-long lines also appeared outside service stations in the central states of Carabobo and Aragua – abutting the capital Caracas – after a regional storage centre ran out of fuel.
Venezuelans are already struggling with hyperinflation and widespread shortages of basic goods amid a painful five-year recession.
