Venezuela is experiencing a rather interesting problem, there is a toilet paper shortage in which the government has responded by vowing to import 50 million rolls to meet demand, according to reports.
Venezuelan Minister of Commerce Alejandro Fleming announced the toilet paper measure on Tuesday, the state-run AVN news agency reported.
Following years of economic instability under the late president Hugo Chavez, the country has gotten used to shortages of medicines and basic food items like milk and sugar but the scarcity of bathroom tissue has caused unusual alarm.
"Even at my age, I've never seen this," said 70-year-old Maria Rojas, according to the Associated Press. She went on to say the toilet paper shortage has been so severe that she searched for toilet paper to buy for almost two weeks.
"I bought it because it's hard to find," said Maria Perez, walking out with several rolls of paper.
"Here there's a shortage of everything - butter, sugar, flour," she said. But the latest shortage is particularly worrisome "because there always used to be toilet paper."
The lack of toilet paper is severe in the capital city Caracas, where shoppers rush to buy rolls and form long lines whenever a store has a new supply of toilet paper, according to CNN.
Venezuela's president Nicolas Maduro claims that anti-government forces, including the private sector, are causing the shortages in an effort to destabilize the country.
The government this week announced it would import 760,000 tons of food and 50 million rolls of toilet paper.
