Maduro "occupies" an appliance store in Venezuela.
The socialist government sent soldiers to force the sale of products at lower prices; the operation is against what authorities see as a wave of speculation affecting the country's economy.
CARACAS, Nov 10 (Reuters) The socialist government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro "occupied" an appliance store on Saturday in an operation against what authorities see as a wave of price speculation affecting the country's economy.
Authorities detained several managers of the local Daka chain, which has 500 employees, sent soldiers to the stores, and forced the company to start selling products at lower prices.
Upon hearing the news, a crowd seeking cheaper devices flocked to Daka stores, and there was even looting at one of the company's stores in downtown Valencia.
"Inflation is killing us. I'm not sure if this is right, but something must be done. I believe it's right to make people sell things at fair prices," said Carlos Rangel, who was queuing with about 500 people outside a Daka store in Caracas.
Maduro, who accuses wealthy businessmen and his right-wing political opponents of waging a "war" against him, said the occupation of the Daka store was just "the tip of the iceberg" in a nationwide campaign against speculators.
Throughout the day, government officials inspected at least three other appliance and toy store chains.
In a speech on Saturday afternoon, the president condemned the looting of a store in Valencia, but said it was an isolated incident and that the real criminals were the unscrupulous businessmen who exploit Venezuelans with unjustified price increases.
"Those who have been looting Venezuela are you, bourgeois parasites," said Maduro, accusing the Daka chain of raising the prices of some products by more than 1.000 percent of the cost.
(Reporting by Deisy Buitrago, with additional reporting by Carlos Rawlins)