On 8 October 2018, members of the Pemon indigenous community blocked, in the kilometer 67, the access to the road to Santa Elena de Uairén and to Brazil, the only road that connects Puerto Ordaz with the Venezuelan-Brazilian border, to protest against high food costs, lack of medicines to deal with diseases such as malaria, and the harassment of local gangs, as well as high transport prices, lack of fuel and domestic gas and speculation of the medical supplies prices.