Venezuela protests and what's behind the food shortages

How strange it is isn't it that the USA goes to far away countries to bring "democracy" to those lands that don't even have the same religious practices as does most of the American public,  but when there's a nation right there in their backward whose citizens are crying out for some help, like the people in Venezuela which is  a communist country,  their cries are blatantly ignored. 

I wonder why the USA is not twisting the arm of the communist leader Nicolas Maduro and demanding to know why all the oil revenue is mismanaged and people have to wait in lines for several hours to lay their hands on a bag of flour or a packet of rice?  Why not entice the Venezuelan govt. to get out of the socialist mode and into a free trade open market?  

From AP:
Battling food shortages, the government is rolling out a new ID system that is either a grocery loyalty card with extra muscle or the most dramatic step yet toward rationing in Venezuela, depending on who is describing it.

President Nicolas Maduro's administration says the cards to track families' purchases will foil people who stock up on groceries at subsidized prices and then illegally resell them for several times the amount. Critics say it's another sign the oil-rich Venezuelan economy is headed toward Cuba-style dysfunction.



Registration began Tuesday at more than 100 government-run supermarkets across the country. Working-class shoppers who sometimes endure hours-long lines at government-run stores to buy groceries at steeply reduced prices are welcoming the plan.

"The rich people have things all hoarded away, and they pull the strings," said Juan Rodriguez, who waited two hours to enter the government-run Abastos Bicentenario supermarket near downtown Caracas on Monday, and then waited another three hours to check out.

Rigid currency controls and a shortage of U.S. dollars make it increasingly difficult for Venezuelans to find imported basic products like milk, flour, toilet paper and cooking oil. Price controls don't help either, with producers complaining that some goods are priced too low to make a profit and justify production....