People buy vegetables in Coro, Venezuela, Saturday, June 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
PHOTO ESSAY: Millions of Venezuelans struggle with food insecurity
CORO, Venezuela (AP) — Millions of Venezuelans are struggling to access food as the country faces its latest economic collapse.
The unraveling of the economy, cuts to state subsidies and programs, changes to foreign aid, and U.S. sanctions have made many necessities unaffordable for the estimated 80% of residents who live in poverty.
The economic policies of President Nicolás Maduro’s government have sharply reduced the value of wages and the local currency, further limiting access to food. At the same time, many soup kitchens that once fed thousands, mostly children, have closed as the government targets opponents through a new law that restricts the work of nongovernmental organizations.
This is a documentary photo story curated by AP photo editors.
A youth eats at the San Judas Tadeo church soup kitchen for neighborhood children in Coro, Venezuela, Saturday, June 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)Alnilys Chirino eats bread for breakfast at her home in Coro, Venezuela, Friday, June 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)A fisherman carries his catch to shore in Coro, Venezuela, Friday, June 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)A youth peers from a school window in La Sierra, Venezuela, Thursday, June 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)Children drink sodas after carrying groceries and vegetables at a church-run soup kitchen that feeds school children in La Vega, on the outskirts of Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, July 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)A mural of late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez covers a wall at a government-run community kitchen in La Vega, on the outskirts of Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, July 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)A student shares her breakfast with a classmate at school in Coro, Venezuela, Wednesday, June 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)Daneris Rujano grinds corn to make “arepas,” a cornmeal flatbread, for her family’s lunch in La Sierra, Venezuela, Thursday, June 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)Plates of food are set on the dinner table at Alnily Chirino’s home, before she eats with her four children and grandson in Coro, Venezuela, Friday, June 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)A vendor prepares to set out with his son to sell fish in Coro, Venezuela, Wednesday, June 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)A refrigerator stands empty inside a school kitchen in La Sierra, Venezuela, Thursday, June 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)Siblings Lixandra Ramirez and her brother Elier Rojas eat cornmeal flatbread known as “arepas” for lunch at their home in Coro, Venezuela, Wednesday, June 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)Three of Alnily Chirino’s four children, and her grandson, eat dinner at home in Coro, Venezuela, Friday, June 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)A vendor sells papayas from a motorcycle in Coro, Venezuela, Sunday, June 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)A youth carries groceries to a church-run soup kitchen that provides weekday lunches for schoolchildren in La Vega, on the outskirts of Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, July 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
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