Fuel Shortage in Venezuela Incites Protests Across the Country

Pictured: The Amuay Refinery in Venezuela. Source: Commons

Venezuelans across the country have taken to the streets to protest the worsening fuel shortage crisis. Protests began in the state of Yaracuy on September 25, but they have since spread to other parts of the country, amounting to more than 100 street protests in the following week. These protests raised concerns among officials in the Maduro government, causing the dispatch of security forces to these areas in an effort to suppress anti-government sentiments.

Venezuela, a member of OPEC and home to the world’s largest oil reserves, has been plagued with a fuel shortage crisis throughout Maduro’s presidency. The Maduro government claimed that increased U.S. sanctions against the Venezuelan oil sector are to blame for the worsening fuel crisis. These U.S.-imposed sanctions have also greatly reduced Venezuela’s ability to import oil, which the government had resorted to in the wake of the oil sector’s collapse to provide fuel to Venezuelans

The United States, however, asserted that Venezuelan government’s mismanagement of oil refineries and corruption are the main causes of the fuel crisis, which started before the U.S. imposed sanctions on Venezuela. Furthermore, opposition leaders in Venezuela and most economists deem interventionist economic policies by the Maduro government as the main cause of the fuel shortage crisis.

Venezuela’s recent imports of oil from Iran held little effects in bettering the crisis. According to Iván Freites, secretary of the United Front of Petroleum Workers of Venezuela, Venezuelans consume approximately 100,000 barrels of oil per day in comparison to the 815,000 barrels within the recently dispatched Iranian fleet of three ships.

Although Venezuela has dealt with fuel shortages for the past few years, conditions worsened recently due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, forcing many people to remain indoors. Venezuelans are also taking advantage of the fuel protests to highlight increased power and water cuts, teacher salaries, and poor hospital conditions as other areas of concern, emphasizing how the ongoing pandemic has further challenged an already crisis-ridden country.