The latest unraveling of Venezuela\u2019s economy<\/a>, changes to foreign aid<\/a>, sanctions from the United States<\/a>, and cuts to state subsidies and programs have made many necessities simply unaffordable to the 80% of residents estimated to live in poverty<\/a>. Housing, medicine, utilities \u2013 but no need is as dire as food.<\/p>\n In the western state of Falcon, where state-owned oil refineries offered plenty of well-paying jobs before the country came undone in 2013, more than two dozen residents, including Chirino, described to The Associated Press how their woes center on food and how they dwell on the issue \u2014 how to buy it, how much and where \u2013 every day.<\/p>\n Experts say that while a famine-level crisis is not imminent in Venezuela, the severe food insecurity is a disaster that will mark the population with lifelong physical and mental health challenges.<\/p>\n President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro<\/a> \u2014 sworn in this year despite credible evidence he lost reelection<\/a> \u2014 has created economic conditions that largely limited people\u2019s access to food nationwide, with the value of wages plummeting. Soup kitchens that fed thousands, mostly children, have been forced to close as he targets real and perceived opponents through a new law restricting the work of nongovernmental organizations.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A mural of late Venezuelan President Hugo Ch\u00e1vez covers a wall at a government-run community kitchen in La Vega, on the outskirts of Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, July 2, 2025. (AP Photo\/Ariana Cubillos)<\/p>\n A mural of late Venezuelan President Hugo Ch\u00e1vez covers a wall at a government-run community kitchen in La Vega, on the outskirts of Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, July 2, 2025. (AP Photo\/Ariana Cubillos)<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n The government\u2019s press office didn\u2019t respond to a message seeking comment on food insecurity amid the economic crisis.<\/p>\n Parents, educators, doctors, humanitarian workers and religious leaders say food is simply out of reach to many, with children suffering the most. They go to bed early to avoid hunger pangs, skip school and snatch food from each other at aid sites.<\/p>\n Chirino\u2019s family is among those who increasingly fear the return of the malnutrition and starvation that gripped the country from 2016 to 2018. She worries constantly for her teenagers: Juan, Jos\u00e9 and Angerlis Colina.<\/p>\n \u201cThey ask me, \u2018What are we going to do tomorrow?\u2019\u201d Chirino said. \u201c\u2018What are we going to eat?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n For the Chirinos and millions of Venezuelans, each mealtime of each day is a struggle.<\/p>\n Bread for breakfast, if there are no headaches<\/p>\n Juan Colina takes three rolls of bread \u2014 the only food he\u2019ll have for breakfast on this summer day \u2014 and dunks them in a sugary, orange-flavored drink. It was something of a treat. Money has lost so much value in the last few months that the family typically drinks only tap water and rarely eats protein.<\/p>\n They\u2019ve grown used to it. Juan felt fortunate to wake without a headache. Jos\u00e9 wasn\u2019t so lucky and stayed in bed.<\/p>\n They often skip school when feeling this way. The law guarantees all students a daily free lunch, but that hasn\u2019t happened for ages, families and teachers across Venezuela told AP.<\/p>\n As the meals stopped and the quality of education fell, students began regularly missing school over the last decade, a trend documented by local and international nongovernmental organizations. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Health care experts say animal protein is the first thing families reduce or eliminate from their diet when prices increase, and they tend to substitute cheaper, less nutritious foods. But poor nutrition can lead to stunting, headaches, fatigue and other health issues in children.<\/p>\n Chirino knows that all too well.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s their diet,\u201d she said of her kids\u2019 headaches.<\/p>\n But the last time she could afford to purchase meat \u2014 enough ground beef for perhaps two servings \u2014 was May.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A student shares her breakfast with a classmate at school in Coro, Venezuela, Wednesday, June 25, 2025. (AP Photo\/Ariana Cubillos)<\/p>\n A student shares her breakfast with a classmate at school in Coro, Venezuela, Wednesday, June 25, 2025. (AP Photo\/Ariana Cubillos)<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n Lunch for students is increasingly rare<\/p>\n At lunchtime, Jos\u00e9 stayed in his room, his head pounding. Angerlis joined her mother and Juan at the table for lunch before heading to school.<\/p>\n Chirino cooked a pot of rice and another of black beans, both of which her mother had gifted her the day before, when the pantry was essentially bare. Chirino, Angerlis and Juan ate a bowl each. Juan chuckled when Angerlis took bites so fast she burned her tongue.<\/p>\n Days earlier, Angerlis said, a classmate who hadn\u2019t eaten fainted at school. But even knowing there would be no food on campus, she grabbed her bag and headed off.<\/p>\n Teachers and administrators across the country are renewing pleas for parents to keep children home if they\u2019ve not had at least one meal and if they have no food to bring to eat during breaks. But not all abide by the request, and students cannot always hide their hunger from classmates and others.<\/p>\n Maduro\u2019s government typically supplies schools with frozen whole chickens and some combination of arepa flour, rice, pasta, beans, sardines, canned lunch meat, milk powder, lentils, salt and cooking oil. But teachers, cooks and administrators say what they receive is inconsistent and insufficient.<\/p>\n And with little to eat at home, on the occasions when the scent of food wafts through school buildings, more students are asking for seconds.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are some who, my goodness, they repeat two or three times. There are kids who eat a lot,\u201d Deyanira Santos, a cook at a 170-student school that hadn\u2019t received supplies in three weeks. \u201cThey have needs at home. … \u2018I have already eaten. Can you give me one to go?\u2019 We put it in a container.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A refrigerator stands empty inside a school kitchen in La Sierra, Venezuela, Thursday, June 26, 2025. (AP Photo\/Ariana Cubillos)<\/p>\n A refrigerator stands empty inside a school kitchen in La Sierra, Venezuela, Thursday, June 26, 2025. (AP Photo\/Ariana Cubillos)<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n Hungry stretches and low-quality food<\/p>\n At home, Chirino sorted through the clothing, accessories and linens she sells to neighbors and acquaintances. Her only income sources are the $70 a month she earns from her sales and a monthly government stipend of about $4. She spends it all on food.<\/p>\n The weakening of the bolivar is the driver of Venezuela\u2019s currency crisis. When a currency quickly loses significant value, people\u2019s money buys less because prices \u2014 particularly of imported goods, like roughly half of Venezuela\u2019s food \u2013 constantly rise to match the exchange rate. It also has meant high inflation and stagnant wages.<\/p>\n Venezuela\u2019s monthly minimum wage of 130 bolivars, or $0.90, has not increased since 2022, putting it well below the United Nations\u2019 measure of extreme poverty of $2.15 a day. Even with government stipends, many public sector workers survive on roughly $160 per month, while the average private sector employee earns about $237, according to the independent Venezuelan Observatory of Finances.<\/p>\n The price of a basic basket of food has topped $500, according to the Observatory, an organization of economists \u2014 some of whom were detained this summer after high inflation data was published, as the government cracks down on dissent.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s becoming more difficult every day for people to access food of a certain quality,\u201d said the Rev. Gilberto Garc\u00eda, whose Catholic church runs a soup kitchen. \u201cPeople eat, but they usually eat carbohydrates. And that\u2019s how people survive.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Three of Alnily Chirino\u2019s four children, and her grandson, eat dinner at home in Coro, Venezuela, Friday, June 27, 2025. (AP Photo\/Ariana Cubillos)<\/p>\n Three of Alnily Chirino\u2019s four children, and her grandson, eat dinner at home in Coro, Venezuela, Friday, June 27, 2025. (AP Photo\/Ariana Cubillos)<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n A simple dinner is better than no dinner at all<\/p>\n Chirino warmed canned meat and served it with rice for dinner. Her adult daughter and toddler grandson joined them \u2014 more mouths to feed, but they were grateful to have even a small meal on the table.<\/p>\n About a block away, people lined up outside the neighborhood convenience store.<\/p>\n Chirino is among the many Venezuelans who say they\u2019re buying food almost exclusively at corner stores, where they can run up an account and walk over one, two, even three times a day. City residents also buy from public markets, but grocery store trips are rare.<\/p>\n \u201cWe give credit to the neighbors who do pay back when they receive their paycheck or stipend,\u201d Diego Reverol, whose family owns a corner store, said, referring to a stipend state employees receive on the 15th of the month.<\/p>\n Other government stipends are available to those who sign up for the ruling party-run subsidy program, but they\u2019re significantly smaller than those of state employees. The program also offers families the option to purchase a combination of food \u2013 the same as what\u2019s distributed to schools \u2013 monthly. However, most of the two dozen people in Falcon who spoke to AP said they\u2019d not received the food since the spring.<\/p>\n Yamelis Ruiz said her family\u2019s challenges are compounded by the loss of critical help from the World Food Program<\/a>, which distributed<\/a> food, refurbished school cafeterias and served meals after reaching an agreement with Maduro\u2019s government in 2021 to support the most vulnerable. WFP prioritized Falcon, with its massive sand dunes and mountain ranges that reach the Caribbean Sea, due to the population\u2019s particular problems with food insecurity.<\/p>\n But citing funding challenges, the WFP this year has deeply cut its aid in Venezuela \u2014 Falcon included \u2014 and beyond. Ruiz said she had already stopped receiving monthly shelf-stable food rations from WFP when the organization further reduced the number of days it would feed kids and families at schools, to eight from 20.<\/p>\n \u201cFood or medicines. Either I buy one thing or the other,\u201d said Ruiz, whose daughter has a congenital brain condition that requires costly treatment.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n