[10] The Maduro administration denied the extent of the crisis[11] and refused to accept humanitarian aid from Amnesty International, the United Nations, and other groups while conditions worsened.

[16] During the shortages, milk, meat, coffee, rice, oil, precooked flour, butter, toilet paper, personal hygiene products, and medicines were scarce.

[41] In January 2015, the hashtag #AnaquelesVaciosEnVenezuela (or #EmptyShelvesInVenezuela) was the number one trending topic on Twitter in Venezuela for two days, with Venezuelans posting pictures of empty store shelves around the country.

One image from February 2012 showed the ports full of shipping containers when the Venezuelan government's spending was near a historic high before the 2012 Venezuela presidential election.

[54] By early 2018, gasoline shortages began to spread, with hundreds of drivers in some regions waiting in lines to fill their tanks, sleeping overnight in their vehicles during the process.

[57] Following increased international sanctions throughout 2019 during the Venezuelan presidential crisis, the Maduro government relaxed some socialist policies established by Chávez, such as price and currency controls, which resulted in the country seeing a rebound from economic decline.

[68] The high black market rates made it difficult for businesses to purchase necessary goods or earn profits since the government often forced them to make price cuts.

[62] Following mass looting in June 2016 due to shortages which resulted in the deaths of at least three, on 12 July 2016, President Maduro granted Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López the power to oversee product transportation, price controls, and the Bolivarian missions.

One anonymous businessman who participated in the lucrative food dealings with Venezuelan military officials, and had contracts valued at $131 million between 2012 and 2015, showed the Associated Press his accounts for his business in Venezuela.

[4] In late January 2017, members of the United States Congress responded to the Associated Press investigation, suggested making targeted sanctions against corrupt Venezuelan officials who had taken advantage of the food shortages and participated in graft.

Democratic Senator of Maryland and ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee Ben Cardin stated, "When the military is profiting off of food distribution while the Venezuelan people increasingly starve, corruption has reached a new level of depravity that cannot go unnoticed."

Mission Barrio Adentro was a program established by Chávez to bring medical care to poor neighborhoods; it was staffed by Cubans that were sent to Venezuela in exchange for petroleum.

[76] They "described a system of deliberate political manipulation"; their services as medical professionals "were wielded to secure votes for the governing Socialist Party, often through coercion", they told The New York Times.

[76] In an interview with President Maduro by The Guardian, it was noted that a "significant proportion" of the subsidized basic goods in short supply were being smuggled into Colombia and sold for far higher prices.

One member, 1st Lt. Luis Alberto Quero Silva of the Venezuelan National Guard, was arrested for possessing three tons of flour, which was likely part of a more elaborate grift operation among the country's military.

[88] One month later, President Maduro introduced a "biometric card" called Tarjeta de Abastecimiento Seguro, that required the user's fingerprint for purchases in state-run supermarkets or participating businesses.

[94] In August 2014, it was reported that the Tarjeta de Abastecimiento Seguro failed to move past the trial phase, and that another "biometric card" was going to be developed according to President Maduro.

Desperate Venezuelans often displayed their frustrations through protests and began to steal water "from swimming pools, public buildings, and even tanker trucks" to survive.

[117] Lorenzo Mendoza, the president of Empresas Polar, Venezuela's largest food producer, expressed his disagreement with the proposed system, saying it would penalize 28 million Venezuelans for the smuggling carried out by just a few.

According to Aristóbulo Istúriz, who was Vice President of Venezuela, the government-operated Local Supply and Production Committees (CLAP) that provides food to Venezuelans in need, are a "political instrument to defend the revolution".

CLAP made contracts with Group Grand Limited, a Mexican entity owned by Maduro through frontmen Rodolfo Reyes, Álvaro Uguedo Vargas and Alex Saab.

[127] The Colombian government said they were investigating shell companies and money laundering related to CLAP operations, and claimed the shipment was to be used to buy votes during the 2018 Venezuelan presidential election.

There were fewer cars circulating due to the high price of imported parts, and guns for criminals were increasingly expensive, meaning that robbers needed to kill authorities in order to obtain a weapon.

[132] Urban theorist and author Mike Davis said in July 2011 to The Guardian, "Despite official rhetoric, the Bolivarianist regime has undertaken no serious redistribution of wealth in the cities and oil revenues pay for too many other programmes and subsidies to leave room for new housing construction.

[85] Many Venezuelans resorted to extreme measures to feed themselves, including eating garbage[21][22] and wild fruits,[23] and selling personal possessions for money to buy food.

[160] In March 2019, it was reported that the "collapse" of the health system had caused the return of old and eradicated rare diseases like yellow fever, dengue, malaria, and tuberculosis, as well as a large increase in infant and maternal mortality rates.

[166] In July 2015, BBC News said that due to the common shortages in Venezuela, every week there were videos being shared online showing Venezuelans looting supermarkets and trucks for food.

According to the chief executive of Datanalisis, Luis Vicente Leon, since insecurity had plagued Venezuela for years, Venezuelans had become accustomed to crime and gave up hope for a solution to it.

Eldar Shafir, author and American behavioral scientist, said that the psychological "obsession" with finding scarce goods in Venezuela is because the rarity of the item makes it "precious".

[171] In more extreme cases, Friends of the Child Foundation Amerita Protección (Fundana) psychologist Ninoska Zambrano explains that children are offering sexual services to obtain food.