By Marieva Fermin.
Between 3,000 and 4,000 liters of milk are lost daily in the municipality of Alberto Arvelo Torrealba, state of Barinas, as a result of the shortage of gasoline, according to the complaint by Jean Carrillo, agricultural producer in the area.
The days-long lines at the service stations in Sabaneta to get fuel are the main reason for the losses. The Nicolas Maduro regime is importing more than one million barrels of gasoline from Iran to assuage a severe gasoline shortage.
As a result, gasoline lines in the most state have morphed into violent gasoline protests. So far, 31 demonstrators have been arrested in Yaracuy state alone, after five days of protests there, and in other parts of Venezuela.
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“For the last two weeks, the situation has been more complicated. Before, we used to mark the lines, but we kept on working until the militaries, who guard the gas station, gave us a chance to the tank. But now, Commander Guerra Moya has already informed us that the milkmen are not a priority sector,” Carrillo said.
The crisis due to the shortage of fuel also affects small producers in the rural zones because they are the ones who report more losses by not being able to place the product that, in the absence of refrigeration. After all, there is no electricity either, said Carrillo, who is part of the Organized Dairy Guild of the municipality Alberto Arvelo.
Carrillo added that the members of the Civil Association of Public Transportation are also affected. Along with some of them, they have been waiting since September 14. But until September 21, no military authority has supported them in supplying fuel.
“The gasoline crisis has reached the point that there are no longer any vehicles circulating in the town. The people from the countryside go out in tractors to do the errands and many rides on beasts because that is the only way to mobilize for work,” he said.