Scarcity, riots and drought: Venezuela is in trouble
Lufthansa has canceled service to Caracas as Venezuela's economic turmoil worsens. The country is one of the world's largest oil producers, but plunging prices have brought inflation to 180 percent in the past year.
Hyperinflation bites into economy
Hyperinflation has made doing business in Venezuela untenable for many domestic and foreign firms. With the currency dropping, the government has made it difficult to convert bolivars into US dollars.
Food shortages
Food shortages have become pervasive, spurred on by hyperinflation. Empty store shelves have become all too common across Venezuela.
Queuing up to buy food
Food shortages mean that people have to wait in line to buy essential food items at select locations. Here people line up outside a supermarket in the poor neighborhood of Lidice, in Caracas.
Gathering signatures
Opposition leaders launched a petition drive to collect signatures for a recall referendum. They needed 200,000 signatures, or 1 percent of the electorate, but they got 1.8 million voters to sign.
Green light for petition
Opposition leader Henrique Capriles shows journalists that the National Election Council has given permission for the referendum to go ahead. But President Nicolas Maduro's government is trying to delay the vote.
Pushing for referendum
Protesters have taken to the streets, demanding that the referendum go forward.
Students protest
Students have also taken to the streets to demonstrate. They are protesting both the overall economic stagnation and also the government's efforts to delay the referendum.
Severe drought
A devastating drought has exacerbated Venezuela's problems. What was once a vast reservoir, held back by a hydroelectric dam, is now little more than a series of mud puddles.
Drought wreaks havoc
The country depends on the Guri Dam - one of the world's largest - for a significant portion of its electricity. While the reservoir is turning to desert, citizens endure daily black outs, and government offices open just two days a week to save electricity.
Health care suffers
Oliver Sanchez, 8, holds a sign that reads "I want to heal, peace, health" during a protest against the shortage of medicines in Caracas. Oliver has Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, but the medicine he needs is no longer available.
Maduro under fire
Venezuela's economic dip is largely the result of oil prices that have plunged more than 50 percent in the past two years. But a severe drought is crimping electricity supplies, and focusing people's ire on Maduro.