Maracaibo: portrait of a shattered Venezuelan city

Former oil hub has gone from boomtown to ghost town under Maduro and US sanctions

On a rundown street in Maracaibo, Venezuela, Lucho Torres leans on the cab of his ancient brown pick-up truck and waits for petrol. Ahead of him, about 30 drivers sit in a line of cars that snakes around the corner and out of sight.

“Today’s not so bad. We should only be waiting an hour or so,” said Mr Torres. “My longest wait was from one day to the next. I slept in the gas station and woke up the next day and filled the tank at eight in the morning.”

Queues for petrol are common in Venezuela these days, but they are particularly galling for the residents of Maracaibo. For decades, this city and the surrounding area provided Venezuela with most of its oil.

Now, in the middle of a profound economic crisis, there is not enough petrol to go round in a country that sits on the world’s largest oil reserves.

While the whole country has been hit hard, Maracaibo and surrounding Zulia state have suffered even more than the capital

Caracas. Venezuela’s perilous economic situation is set to worsen as the US tightens sanctions.

Around Maracaibo, many gas stations are closed, chains slung across their entrances. It is a far cry from the city’s heyday a generation ago, when it was a boomtown renowned in Venezuela for its brash consumerism and heady nightlife.

The local chamber of commerce says retail sales have crashed 85 per cent in the past year. Hotel occupancy is at 12 per cent. Since January, US sanctions have made it difficult for the country to sell its oil abroad or import petrol from elsewhere — forcing it to become dependent on Russia for supply.

Many shops, too, are shuttered. The few in the city centre that are open blare music from loud speakers to entice people in, but with little success. With the minimum monthly wage worth just $5, people have little money to spend on anything but basics.

Some owners have left the country, fleeing the economic collapse to neighbouring Colombia less than 100km away. Others have stayed but say it is not worth opening.