Venezuela Crisis: Some residents of Margarita Island wait all day for gas

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Across Venezuela, many have faced food and medicine shortages for years. But now gas shortages are making the simple task of cooking meals even harder. On Margarita Island, off the northeastern coast of Venezuela, some people are forced to skip work to wait in line for up to six hours to refill their empty gas cylinders. CGTN's Juan Carlos Lamas reports.

People on Margarita Island, where an estimated nearly million live, are facing extreme shortages of cooking gas. One of them is 74-year-old Aida Vasquez. Dried branches from her mango tree are the only way she can cook her lunch.

AIDA VASQUEZ HOMEMAKER "We are struggling, and those who do not have wood, they need to look for it anywhere they can. You can see people walking down the streets looking for wood, so they can cook with it, just like I do."

Vasquez says food is a daily concern. Not only is it hard to find and pay for it, but now it's also hard to cook. Sometimes she's forced to exchange mangos for firewood. Preserving her food is also a problem, Venezuela's frequent power failures have damaged her fridge.

AIDA VASQUEZ HOMEMAKER "If I buy meat today, I have to cook it right away, and that's true for all proteins I buy. Not even an electric stove can be counted on since power fails every day."

In Venezuela, nine out of 10 homes use gas cylinders for cooking. But problems with delivering and distributing that gas affects 80% of the population.

JUAN CARLOS LAMAS MARGARITA ISLAND "Venezuela ranks among the top ten countries in the world in terms of the size of its natural gas reserves. But people on this island often wait in line for hours under the burning sun just to see if they can get some cooking gas. And most of the time, they come back home empty handed."

People here have taken to the streets in protest, blocking the island's main road to demand a solution to the gas shortages.

TOMAS REYES FARMER "It's been a month since we stopped receiving gas. We're cooking only with wood. My grandchildren have trouble breathing because of the smoke. It's quite concerning because if they get sick there are no medicines."

State-owned oil company PDVSA, which has control over Venezuela's gas distribution system, says the problem is the result of recent US economic sanctions. But some experts believe the crisis started earlier.

OSCAR HERNANDEZ INFRASTRUCTURE DIRECTOR "The real problem to this is due to a lack of management, planning and a terrible distribution system."

For people on the island, they just want a solution. A way to make cooking with gas a daily occurrence rather than a daily challenge. Juan Carlos Lamas, CGTN, Margarita Island, Venezuela.