Venezuela threatens to cut off fuel to protest areas

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/02/21/venezuela-threatens-to-cut-off-fuel-to-protest-areas/



Venezuela threatens to cut off fuel to protest areas
By Agence France-Presse
Friday, February 21, 2014 16:15 EST

Venezuela’s leftist government Friday threatened to cut off gasoline supplies to areas hit by opposition protests that have spiraled into the biggest challenge to Nicolas Maduro since he became president last year.

“We will be obliged to suspend the supply of fuel to areas under fascist siege in order to preserve the security of all,” Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez warned on Twitter, in the latest move to squelch more than two weeks of growing anti-government demonstrations.

Ramirez, who also heads the state oil company, provided no precise details on when or where gasoline supplies could be withheld.

But such a measure would add another hardship for residents already struggling with shortages of basic necessities, soaring inflation and rampant crime — grievances at the root of the escalating protests.