Venezuelans daily struggle for food

Getting by during hard times in Venezuela for Yeri Guerra means that some days she skips meals so her two young boys still at home can eat before heing off to school.

Or days, when things are even more desperate, she said, y skip meals and ne of m eat.

"We feed on one little chicken drumstick, for three of us," said Guerra, who sometimes doesn't send her two kids to school because she can't afford breakfast for m. "Sometimes it's only for m, I skip my meals so it's eugh for m." Guerra, 39, isn't alone.

According to a survey recently published by UN World Food Program, one in every three Venezuelans cope with food insecurity, unable to get eugh to meet ir basic dietary needs. In an apparent shift for Venezuela, people surveyed said food is w available in a country once riddled by shorts, but w it's more difficult to afford because y've lost ir jobs as Venezuela's crisis deepens.

South American nation was once among Latin America's richest nations, sitting atop world's largest oil reserves. But it has been in a stey downward spiral, which has reached social and ecomic crisis in recent years. Remote states like Delta Amacuro, Amazonas and Falcon h especially high levels of food insecurity, study says.

In more prosperous regions one in five people have trouble putting food on table.

As capital, Caracas has nation's high concentration of wealth, but it's common to see everybody from children to elderly looking for leftovers in garb piles outside homes and behind restaurants. When mangoes come into season, poor are often seen in streets throwing rocks and sticks high into trees hoping to kck loose fresh fruit for a meal.

Wilfredo Corniel, a priest who organizes free meals in Caracas slum called Cemetery, said he was spurred to action upon seeing people rummaging through garb. "One day we saw a dog fighting with a man over a bone," Corniel said. "A bone that h thing on it."

Corniel said he's concerned about long-term impact on young people growing up without eugh to eat, who may have life-long health impacts.

World Food Program's nationwide survey released Feb. 23 based on data from 8,375 questionnaires reveals a startling picture of large number of Venezuelans surviving off a diet consisting largely of tubers and beans as hyperinflation renders many salaries worthless.

A total of 9.3 million people, roughly one-third of population, are moderately or severely food insecure, said World Food Program's study, which was conducted at invitation of Venezuelan government.

Venezuela's crisis has driven more than 4.5 million people to flee nation.

y're escaping inflation that's left monthly minimum w at equivalent to roughly 4 US dollars and shorts of basic goods, such as medicine.

Despite decline, Socialist President Nicolas Muro has mand to stay in power despite attempts of opposition leer Juan Guaido to overthrow him and increasing sanctions of United States.

Muro's government hasn't commented on study.

For Guerra, home is a small apartment up a winding flight of stairs in Caracas slum of Petare, torious as one of largest and most violent in South America.

She talked about her family's struggles to eat one recent morning as she stood over a gas flame on her stove flatting balls of cornmeal in her hands to make a Venezuelan staple called arepas.

She scrambled two eggs and fed her two boys, s 4 and 11, seated at ir kitchen table.

Her children aren't malurished, thanks to a neighborhood soup kitchen run by a charity, where she and her two sons eat lunch five days a week. She often saves some of her lunch to have for dinner at night. Or meals depend on how successful she is selling cookies and candy on street a few evenings.

She earns about 5 US dollars a week, which she also uses to buy or necessities.

 Since September, she's been lone provider for her family. Her husband went to work one day selling snacks on street, only to be found beaten to death and robbed.

Guerra recalled just a few years ago how she and her relatives used to eat toger without worrying about next meal.

Today, most of her relatives have emigrated to Colombia, Ecuor and Peru, leaving her with little more than memories of better times.