Caracas Chronicles

In recent years, a new kind of robbery has become recurrent in Venezuela: the “commando assault”. Its modus operandi is based on a large and organized group of criminals (ten or more), who arrive to a location like a commercial building or a gated community, and do their job in an organized fashion.

They’re better prepared that the average malandro, less prone to confrontation and prefer to take their time during work (hours instead of minutes). Given those elements, it’s suspected that many of those involved are active or former members of law enforcement.

This week one of these groups entered a Valencia supermarket, but money wasn’t their only objective. They took some shipments of food staples: sugar, flour, cooking oil, and chicken. According to sources in the police, this incident is not isolated.

It could be related to the current shortage of several products, linked to the lack of available foreign currency. Even the Food Minister Carlos Osorio has somehow admitted the problem and has blamed “mafias” inside the food distribution chain, like one he just uncovered inside PDVAL.

Meanwhile, street vendors are still making good business. The distribution chain remains intact.