Venezuelans who devote hours scouring supermarkets for increasingly scarce food basics and toilet paper have received some digital help thanks to a young software developer.
Jose Augusto Montiel's free Abasteceme application for Android mobile devices allows people to notify one another where flour, sugar, milk, cooking oil and toilet paper are for sale. It has been downloaded more than 12,000 times.
Stocks of basic items such as wheat, flour and butter have been running low throughout Venezuela. Economists blame government-imposed price control, while President Nicolas Maduro said greedy merchants are hoarding goods.