Looting erupts amid cash chaos

In an echo of recent events in India, frustration boils over after Venezuela’s largest banknote is withdrawn from circulation.

Protests and looting have broken out in parts of Venezuela due to a lack of cash, after the socialist government suddenly pulled the nation’s largest banknote from circulation in the midst of a brutal economic crisis.

Waving the now-worthless 100-bolivar notes, pockets of demonstrators have blocked roads, demanded that stores accept the notes and cursed President Nicolas Maduro.

Last weekend, Maduro gave Venezuelans three days to ditch the 100-bolivar notes, arguing that the measure was needed to combat ‘‘mafias’’ on the Colombian border, despite warnings from some economists that it risked sparking chaos.

Opposition leaders say the move is further evidence that Maduro is destroying the Opec nation’s economy and must be removed. Authorities have thwarted a referendum sought by the opposition against the Leftist leader, however, enabling him to complete a six-year term ending in early 2019 but increasing the prospect of social unrest.

With new banknotes – originally due on Friday – still nowhere to be seen, many Venezuelans are unable to fill their vehicles’ fuel tanks to get to work, buy food or purchase Christmas gifts.

Adding to the chaos, many cash machines are broken or empty.

Shopkeepers have put up signs saying 100-bolivar notes will no longer be accepted.

Large lines formed yesterday outside the central bank offices in the capital Caracas and the large western city of Maracaibo, where 100-bolivar notes can still be handed over and deposited for a few days more.

National Guard soldiers kept watch. An orange and avocado vendor offered to buy the notes up for 80 bolivars each.

Police put down a protest outside a bank building several arrests.

In Caracas, some people passed the day banging on pots and cursing the government’s apparent lack of planning.

‘‘This is a mockery,’’ said bus driver Richard Montilva as he and several hundred other people blocked a street outside a bank in the town of El Pinal in Tachira state near Colombia.

The arrival of the new notes ‘‘is a mystery to us too’’, said a source at the central bank, who requested anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to reporters.

Maduro’s measure has stoked anger among Venezuelans already in Maracaibo with I want a change in government. I don’t care about changing the bills – they’re not worth anything anyway. weary of long lines for medicine amid product and triple-digit inflation.

Six businesses in isolated Bolivar state were looted yesterday after stores refused to accept the soonto-be defunct bills, said El Callao’s mayor, Coromoto Lugo, who belongs to the opposition. There were similar reports in several other towns. food and shortages

Maduro blames the crisis on an ‘‘economic war’’ being waged against his government to weaken the bolivar currency and unseat him. Critics scoff at that explanation, pointing instead to state controls and excessive money printing.

‘‘I want a change in government. I don’t care about changing the bills – they’re not worth anything anyway,’’ said Isabel Gonzalez, 62, who was standing in line at the central bank.

She said she had just cash to get a bus home.

People have been forced to rely on credit cards and bank transfers or trying to make purchases with bundles of hard-to-find smaller bills often worth less than a penny each.

Maduro said the withdrawal was needed to thwart criminal gangs that hoard bolivars.

Critics have mocked the notion that gangsters would choose to keep their wealth in the world’s fastest-devaluing currency. The 100-bolivar note – until now the enough country’s largest denomination – is worth little more than US2 cents, down from US10c at the start of the year.

The embattled socialist president held up a new 500-bolivar note on his television show on Friday, promising that the new notes would soon be in wide circulation, and offering to temporarily cut sales tax for credit card transactions. But yesterday, ATMs were still issuing only 100-bolivar notes.

Maduro also said the government had begun to circulate new 100-, 50- and 10-bolivar coins, but few seem to have reached the public.