CARACAS, VENEZUELA (CNN) – Venezuela is a country fighting off hunger, crime and political uncertainty.
The cheering and the taunting belies the crowd’s desperation. The Venezuelan families are ready to do combat, and it's primal: A fight for food.
"What about us?” screams Yolanda Rodon at police. “What about our children? What about our grandchildren? Nothing?"
The government is supposed to be distributing staples but the people have not seen any. That's why they took matters into their own hands. And they're blocking the road. They're waiting to see what will become of the confrontation with the riot police.
Feelings are raw but the scene is far from rare now in Venezuela. The people in a suburb of Caracas say there's been no flour, milk, pasta, rice, none of the basics in nearly a month.
Hunger gives way to anger which gives way to daring, rebuke to those who arrive with guns and shields instead of flour and milk.
"They approach us as if we're terrorists. Gentlemen, we're just hungry!” a woman says.
But the hunger and rage of the day turns to quiet desperation in the dead of night.
Like millions in Venezuela, Carmen Escala gets up earlier and earlier to line up for food. It's humiliating she says and there's no guarantee she'll find anything. "Sometimes," she says, "We leave early and find nothing. We come back as we left."
Carmen is just across the street from the presidential palace, but food shortages stalk the neighborhood like all others.
So Carmen grabs her purse and leaves her three children and husband behind in search of food on her government-assigned shopping day. And she joins millions of others who walk the line, now many times for the entire night.
Charallaves is a bedroom community outside of Caracas, and the term bedroom has taken on a whole new meaning.
Hundreds of families, children in tow, sleeping rough the whole night on sidewalks and in ditches, desperate to keep their place in line before the suppliers run out of food.
Cristiel Martinez, with baby Alberto, trying to buy whatever there is, she says. The night vigil escapes no one. If you want to eat, join the line, and even then it may not be enough.
Daybreak comes and disappoints, and for more and more even standing in the lines is futile.
It’s all leaving Venezuela at loose ends, unraveling more quickly by the day.
The families get only assurances. Riot police say they will look into the shortages. The rage is allowed to simmer.
Marchers eventually surrender the road, but Venezuela's streets still look and feel like a battleground for survival.
Copyright 2016 CNN. All rights reserved.
A Venezuelan protester shouts at police about her family's lack of food. (Source: CNN)
