During a recent visit to Guaicaipuro , a traditional market in Caracas , the Venezuelan capital , a fresh meat refrigerator sat empty at a grocery . Many consumers looking for beef , poultry or fish had to go home empty-handed . The produce section looked well stocked with plenty of fruits and vegetables . But consumers shopping at Guaicaipuro complained that prices , even for basic products , had skyrocketed . Alba Varela , a housewife and resident of Caracas , went to the market looking for cornmeal to prepare hallacas , a traditional Venezuelan dish , especially this time of the year . `` It 's fundamental , because other than pork it 's the main dish for us during December , '' Varela said . `` It seems there 's a shortage . '' Maria de Abreu , another Caracas resident doing her grocery shopping , complained that she could n't find powdered milk . `` It 's regulated and you can only get a can per person . And so what people do is that they bring along a friend and another and yet another and that 's how they get enough for their family , '' de Abreu said . There 's also a shortage of coffee . As soon as new supplies arrive , shoppers say , they have to run to the store to get some because it runs out very quickly . Venezuela has the highest annual inflation in Latin America . It soared to 27.6 percent in November . In an effort to curb this inflation , the government set price caps on as many as 15,000 goods in late November . The price of 18 products , including toothpaste , soap and diapers , which are considered `` basic , '' was immediately frozen . Consuelo Cerrada is in charge of the government agency that advocated for consumers . She says they 're doing everything possible to improve the situation . `` The Bolivarian government is working in coordination with all of the agencies responsible for food distribution to guarantee that there will be food available , '' Cerrada said recently in an interview for Venezuelan state television . Bolivarian is a reference to the country 's official name , The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela . Venezuelan authorities blame the shortages on some producers who have allegedly hoarded regulated products . According to officials , in a raid conducted in November , they found more than 200 tons of powdered milk hidden in a warehouse . President Hugo Chavez says this is an example of what his government has to deal with and places the blame on what he calls `` speculators and hoarders . '' `` We have to get to the bottom of this . This is not about half measures or quick fixes . We have to apply the Constitution to the root , the way it should be done , '' Chavez said , reacting to the case of the hidden powdered milk . Venezuela is not a poor country . It 's the thirteenth largest producer of oil in the world and an important producer of minerals . But Jennifer McCoy , director of the Americas Program at the Carter Center in Atlanta says the country is paying for the centralization of the government and a socialist agenda pushed by President Chavez . `` His goal that he has stated is to deepen the revolution , to deepen and expand socialism and to show , I think , the country his vision of his socialist experiment , '' McCoy said . Jorge Roig , vice president of Fedecamaras , a Venezuelan association that pulls together businesses , including many producers of basic goods , blames the new government price caps and regulations for the shortages . `` People are doing panic buying . With these price caps , people are buying more than they need because they know many factories are not going to be able to produce their products . Production has gone down because there are price caps , production is not cost-effective and we have these conditions that discourage investment , '' Roig said . It 's not just ordinary people who are worried about the situation . Under government guidelines published last month , producers of basic products , including foreign companies , must now register with government regulators and disclose how they produce , distribute and market their products , a move that has caused great concern among domestic and international companies operating in Venezuela .
Consumers often go home empty handed because of food shortages . Comment: The government caps the prices of as many as 15,000 products . Venezuela , a major producer of oil and minerals , is not a poor country .