Fears grow of Venezuela malnutrition time-bomb

Aid workers warn that millions face long-term damage to health as food crisis continues

Michael Stott in Caracas and Gideon Long in Maracaibo, Venezuela

The graffiti scrawled across a wall in Caracas is short but heartfelt. “Tengo hambre,” it reads. “I am hungry”.

It is a cry increasingly heard across Venezuela. As socialist president Nicolás Maduro and western-backed opposition leader Juan Guaidó battle for the country’s future amid an economic collapse that has sparked severe shortages of food, fuel and medicine, millions of people are going hungry for extended periods and risking long-term damage to their health, humanitarian organisations have warned.