Venezuelan shopkeeper Manuel Saavedra says new US sanctions are strangling him — and lots of other everyday people.
A video game store owner in Caracas, Saavedra has been forced to raise prices as products became harder to import from May 15, when the US Transportation Department suspended passenger and cargo services between the US and Venezuela.
Washington has imposed that and other punishment in hopes of undermining President Nicolas Maduro and helping opposition leader Juan Guaido, who is recognized as interim president by more than 50 countries, force him from power.
But Saavedra says those new sanctions hurt average citizens more than they do the Maduro regime.
“They’re suffocating us, ordinary citizens,” he said.
“I don’t know how long it will last. In any country (sanctions) affect everyone (but) less so those in government.” Air courier companies increased their charges from $3.50 to $4.50 per pound following the latest US sanctions while maritime shipments went from $8 to $10 per cubic meter, says Saavedra.
Packages can no longer be sent directly from the US and must now first pass through Panama or the Dominican Republic in order to circumvent the sanctions.
“That pushes up the costs and means that you sell less,” Saavedra told AFP.
It’s one of a number of extra hassles facing ordinary Venezuelans as a consequence of US sanctions, such as fuel shortages and sky-high airfares. Even before that latest embargo, Venezuela’s crippling economic crisis weighed heavily on its businesses and citizens.
Five years of recession and inflation which the International Monetary Fund says will reach a staggering 10 million percent this year have taken their toll.
The United Nations says a quarter of the 30-million-strong population is in need of humanitarian aid and 3.3 million people have fled the country since the end of 2015.