(NaturalNews) It was nicknamed the "Fingerprints for Food" program, but it represented a dire new twist in the ongoing struggle for the socialist Venezuelan government to provide basic nourishment and products for its citizens.

As reported by the Miami Herald in May 2014, President Nicolas Maduro ordered the implementation of biometrics to allow the government to track what customers of state-owned grocery stores were purchasing and, perhaps as importantly, how much.

Maduro, the paper reported, said that the measure was necessary to prevent hoarding, and to help keep price-controlled food from being resold at a profit. Even then, food was increasingly in short supply, and that was before global oil prices collapsed due to a glut; Venezuela receives 95 percent of its revenues from oil.

In order to convince hungry Venezuelans to voluntarily register for the program, Food Minister Felix Osorio promised that anyone who signed up and give the government their fingerprints, would be eligible for discounts and prizes.
 

Military necessary to guard stores

The scheme was not made mandatory when it was first implemented, but critics warned that it would become just another way for the state to keep tabs on its people, and could even serve as a precursor to rationing.

The Herald reported further:

The initiative, called the Superior System for Secure Supplies, comes amid a raft of economic measures rolled out amid anti-government protests that have dragged on for almost two months leaving at least 39 dead on both sides of the political divide.

The program came amid some of the worst inflation suffered by Venezuela at the time (it has only gotten worse since).

"This is a government that attacks the people not only with weapons but with the worst tax: inflation," Luis Florido, a national officer of the Voluntad Popular opposition party, told the Herald at the time. "The government is creating economic [chaos] for the people of Venezuela."