She resorted to the only available option: leaving her father’s body in an unmarked common grave at the edge of the cemetery, an area traditionally reserved for unclaimed bodies.

“My father died and I could not even hold a wake because I had no way of getting the money,” said Vera, 27, a cashier. “What us Venezuelans are living through is denigrating.”

The decay of Venezuela’s oil industry burdened citizens for months with long gasoline queues and shortages of cooking gas, and has now hit families bidding farewell to loved ones.

Venezuelans have shifted toward cremations, which cost about a third of burials, but growing demand has crematories struggling to obtain natural gas.