Alexandra Colopoy was shot by First Sergeant David Rebolledo, according to a tweet by the state prosecutor late on Sunday night. No further details were provided, but critics of President Nicolás Maduro's leftwing government seized on the incident, calling it a stark example of the oil-rich country's meltdown.

"This is how the murderous regime treats the people," opposition lawmaker Delsa Solorzano tweeted on Monday.

"The sorrow of this man, whose wife and baby to be were killed by a bullet from the state, is Venezuela's sorrow." 

Local media reported that Colopoy's husband and a witness said the soldiers were drunk when they arrived at the queue for pork in a poor area of Caracas. They said the soldiers ordered the people waiting in line to move on because the traditional Christmas meat had run out, but they refused.

"The national guard went crazy and started firing," Colopoy's spouse Bernabé said in a filmed interview circulating on social media.