Bloodless Coup

All the oil in the world won't save you from the cacerolazo

Or so Hugo Chavez might find out.

Entering a supermarket here is a bizarre experience. Shelves are fully stocked with Scotch whiskey, Argentine wines and imported cheeses like brie and Camembert, but basic staples like black beans and desirable cuts of beef like sirloin are often absent. Customers, even those in the government's own Mercal chain of subsidized grocery stores, are left with choices like pork neck bones, rabbit and unusual cuts of lamb.

With shoppers limited to just two large packages of sugar, a black market in sugar has developed among street vendors in parts of Caracas. "This country is going to turn into Cuba, or Chavez will have to give in," said Candida de Gomez, 54, a shopper at a private supermarket in Los Palos Grandes, a district in the capital.

"Unusual cuts of lamb."