The Venezuelan government has been riddled with an economic crisis for years. The country's financial situation has worsened in recent years with skyrocketing hyperinflation that renders their money to be of no value. The country has also been suffering from daily power cuts, food shortage, and depleted medicine and other medical equipment.

According to a news article, Venezuela has been the victim of mismanagement and isolated economy. The freefall what was once considered as Latin America's wealthiest nation to its poorest.

Venezuela has the world's biggest oil reserves. In recent years, however, it had recorded the biggest drop in oil production in the last four decades. The country once boasted the biggest oil refineries in Latin America. Years of neglect have turned the refineries derelict. Now, none produce gasoline. Sanctions imposed by the United States government has also constricted the country's remaining gasoline imports.

Before Venezuela's economy collapsed, a dollar could provide roughly five billion gallons of gasoline. Today, a dollar only amounts to half a pint of petrol. The surge in prices has made fuel a luxury buy in the country.

The fuel shortage has forced many Venezuelans to queue for days for a chance to buy limited quantities of fuel at 0.00000002 cents per gallon from state-owned gasoline stations. Drivers who are unable to wait in line for days turn to the black market operated by the Venezuelan armed forced. In the black market, five gallons of gasoline is priced at $80. Some trade food or cigarettes for gasoline fill-ups.

Venezuelans living in the countryside have very little to no gasoline supply. The depressed areas frequently see outbreaks of protests and road blockades. Emergency services, including ambulances and fire trucks, are often left without fuel. Some towns began relying on pack animals to travel to the nearest city with gasoline.

In Turgua, a village located ten minutes outside the nation's capital, residents survive on food from their small pots. Citizens living in the town are unable to get to their jobs in the capital due to the gasoline shortage. Food trucks have also stopped delivering food products to their local shops.

In Zulia, smugglers who used to smuggle cheap gasoline to neighbouring Colombia have turned course and began bringing Colombian fuel into Venezuela.

Oil traders claim the government has turned to local businessmen to bypass the U.S. sanctions and procure gasoline from abroad. The scheme makes shipping surveillance nearly impossible. Iran has also sent gasoline tankers to the country and provided technicians to help repair the derelict refineries.

According to residents, the military now holds authority over fuel distribution in the country. Their power allows them to sell what should be a free product with a dramatic price tag in the black market. The officers reportedly oversee the fuel trafficking as well as the country's gold mines.

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