Economy  
The freezing of trade relations between Caracas and Bogotá has led Venezuelan pharmaceutical companies to consider new international markets for to replace drug imports from Colombia.

Ángel Márquez, chair of the Pharmaceutical Industry Chamber (Cifar), said that so far pharmaceutical products purchased in Colombia have entered the country without major problems, with the Venezuelan Foreign Exchange Administration Commission (Cadivi) providing the necessary US dollars smoothly.

However, he stressed that government officials, in view of frozen Venezuela-Colombia relations, have "suggested" the chamber to import from other markets the products that were originally bought in Colombia.

Meanwhile, while the supply of medicines in drugstores and pharmacies has been stable in recent months, the latest report of the Venezuelan Pharmaceutical Federation (Fefarven) shows that occasional shortages have increased and amount to 22 percent to 26 percent, particularly of antibiotics, contraceptives, flu medicines and hypertension and diabetes drugs.