Father shot dead amid widespread looting in Venezuela

A father was shot dead while buying diapers for his baby son amid widespread looting in Venezuela. Manuel Castellanos, 46, was shot in the neck when he was caught between mobs and police while walking home with the diapers, witnesses said; Diapers have become prized products in Venezuela due to severe widespread shortages of hundreds of essential items like food, medicine and baby products.

Three National Guard sergeants would be charged later for their “presumed responsibility” in his killing, the State Prosecutor’s Office said, He was caught in the crossfire as mobs looted shops and fought security forces overnight in Venezuela’s restive western region, People made off with items including coffee, diapers, and cooking oil in a country where a brutal economic crisis has made basic foods and medicine disappear from shelves. 

Barricades of trash, car tires, and sand littered the streets, as daily life broke down in the city. In the last few years people have struggled to get basic items like toilet paper, as well as medicine supplies. Venezuela is lacking roughly 80 per cent of basic medical supplies, according to the Pharmaceutical Federation of Venezuela.