Venezuela: Why are people protesting?

The economy is a mess. Despite having the world's largest oil reserves, Venezuela is suffering from a deep recession and hyper-inflation. Prices rose by 800 percent in 2016, with the International Monetary Fund predicting inflation could hit 2,200 percent by the end of 2017. 

Meanwhile, the economy shrunk by 18.6 last year, according to Reuters.

At the same time, food and medicine shortages are creating a humanitarian emergency. Shoppers, forced to wait in long lines to buy basic supplies, are often met by empty grocery shelves. Hospitals are suffering from acute shortfalls of everything from antibiotics, to basic sanitation equipment like medical gloves and soap.

The current protests were triggered by a Supreme Court decision to strip power from the National Assembly, the opposition-held Congress — a move widely thought to be aimed at concentrating power in the hands of Maduro's increasingly unpopular government.

For the last month people — from students to housewives and retirees — have taken to the streets to express their outrage, confronting National Guard troops armed with tear gas and water cannons. On Thursday, footage emerged of an armored car rolling over a defiant crowd.

Roberto, a 51-year-old Caracas resident who owns his own electrical supplies business, explained why his fellow Venezuelans were taking to the streets.

"It is common to find people scavenging for food at garbage dumps and everywhere people are eating off garbage cans," said the father-of-one who spoke on condition that his last name was not used out of fear of government reprisal. "People are starving. You see misery everywhere."






He said he sells "20 times less" than he used to and is just living off savings, which he fears may run out soon. Despite being tear gassed at recent demonstrations, he said he will continue to march because he has no choice.

"A lot of people have left the country, those that can have gone overseas. But for those like me that are still here, all we can do is fight," said Roberto. "We are fighting for free and honest elections, we want to recover democracy."

Gustavo Arnavat, senior advisor at the Center for Strategic & International Studies, told NBC News that these conditions "have produced a political and constitutional crisis that are precipitating the complete collapse of the state."

"Even former supporters of Hugo Chavez are starting to turn against the government and policies of president Maduro," he added, referring to the current president's predecessor and father of "Chavismo" —a Latin American left-wing ideology following the principles of Simon Bolivar who fought for colonial independence from Spain.