CARACAS, (Reuters) – A major pharmacy chain has started fingerprinting customers in Caracas, as Venezuela’s socialist government tries to halt smugglers and resellers from stocking up on scarce goods from toilet paper to medicines.
Venezuelans often spend hours in lines at stores and are furious at shoppers who scoop up items to re-sell on the thriving black market or in neighboring Colombia for a hefty profit.
President Nicolas Maduro has vowed to crack down on the “bachaqueros” – a word derived from an ant that stings people and moves around leaves – and he argues fingerprinting will curb purchasing beyond permitted limits.
“All the initiatives and efforts to supply Venezuelans are valid,” Luis Manuel De Llano, Farmatodo’s vice president for corporate relations, said. He did not say whether the chain adopted the pilot program voluntarily or at the request of the government.
Maduro has cranked up the pressure on Farmatodo and fellow private retailers to stock their stands, reduce lines and fight smuggling in what he calls an “economic war” against him by unscrupulous businessmen.
Two Farmatodo executives were briefly detained for allegedly exacerbating lines.
Critics and many economists counter that the root causes of shortages are the OPEC country’s currency controls and unsustainable subsidies, and warn fingerprinting does nothing to address them.
