The sale of gasoline in socialist-controlled Venezuela is increasingly being controlled by socialist warlords in a similar manner to drug trafficking, Argentinian outlet InfoBae detailed in a report Friday.
Amid chronic gasoline shortages across the oil-rich nation, socialist militias and military officials have taken advantage of the unmet demand by gaining preferential access to supplies and selling them at markups of up to 1000 percent.
One of the groups also taking advantage of the supply and demand is the People’s Liberation Army (ELN), a communist terror group based in Colombia and supported by Nicolás Maduro’s socialist regime. According to one community leader from western Táchira state who spoke with InfoBae, the illegal sale of gasoline has become one of the group’s most important revenue streams.
“It is one of the important resources they obtain because even if there is a surcharge, no one is going to point them out for committing a crime that is almost institutionalized in a permissive manner,” said the leader. “I learned that the military, the guerrillas, the collectives, they all run gas stations and charge exaggerated prices for fuel.”
Despite having the largest oil reserves in the world, Venezuela is currently facing energy shortages comparable to the likes seen in Cuba and North Korea. The shortages are mainly a result of the collapse in oil production by the state-run oil company Petroleum of Venezuela, which has fallen to chronic inefficiencies and an exodus of its most experienced personnel since its nationalization by Hugo Chávez in the 2000s.
Shortages of gasoline are now so severe that some parts of the country have had to suspend its sale completely, a situation that if prolonged could lead to the collapse of civilization altogether. Many Venezuelans now also live with intermittent access to electricity and water supply as public services continue to crumble amid the country’s ever-worsening economic and humanitarian crisis.
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