MARACAY, Venezuela - Dozens of cars lined up alongside a gas station just after dawn on a highway in the Venezuelan city of Maracay, in the central state of Aragua. Drivers had been waiting for hours to buy gas, partaking in an all too common ritual in the hopes that when it was their turn, there would be enough gas left to fuel up.

Luis Chourio, 40, spent two mornings last week at a gas station in Maracay, less than 80 miles from the capital of Caracas, waiting for hours to fill up his pickup truck. But each time he made it to a pump, he was told he would have to come back tomorrow.

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