HomeNewsBriefColombia-Venezuela to Launch New Contraband Crackdown
BRIEF

Colombia-Venezuela to Launch New Contraband Crackdown

COLOMBIA / 30 JAN 2014 BY MIRIAM WELLS EN

Colombia and Venezuela are to launch a new anti-smuggling initiative in an attempt to crack down on the huge amounts of contraband crossing their border daily, but local corruption could well prevent any major progress.

Following a meeting between Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his Colombian counterpart Juan Manuel Santos in Havana, Cuba, Maduro said the new strategy would come into force on February 6. "We are going to put the pincers into contraband and we are going to crush it, we are going to crush the mafias which control contraband," he said, reported Radio Santa Fe.

Between 30 and 40 percent of all products imported into Venezuela (which imports around 80 percent of all products consumed) were being smuggled into Colombia, claimed the president of its National Assembly, Diosdado Cabello.

Cabello said security forces in the border region would be strengthened and ordered to look for new ways to reduce contraband.

InSight Crime Analysis

Until more concrete details about specific measures emerge -- if they emerge -- it is difficult to make any predictions about the plan's likely success. But like many Venezuelan government announcements, this one appears to contain many words and little substance. Only six months ago Maduro announced a new "civic-military" task force would be created to patrol the border with the aim of stamping out smuggling, but little has changed.

What is certain is authorities will face serious challenges since roots of contraband run deep. There is widespread corruption of Venezuelan security forces and evidence of their direct participation in organized crime.

Corrupt cells of the Venezuelan military are long believed to have exchanged weapons for drugs with Colombian rebels in the border region, and they are now involved in major international drug trafficking operations. Meanwhile, corruption of regional security forces tasked with monitoring border crossings is also common. Such activities continue unhindered primarily due to the military's status as the government's primary powerbase.

SEE ALSO: Cartel de los Soles Profile

Moreover, the massive amount of contraband passing over the border each day -- gasoline and beef among the principal products, with the trade controlled by major Colombian criminal organizations -- is directly fueled by Venezuela's economic system. The government sets strict price controls on certain products, which combined with currency controls that have made the US dollar and Colombian peso immensely valuable on the black market, means goods can be purchased at absurdly cheap rates inside Venezuela and sold for huge profits in Colombia.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

COLOMBIA / 28 SEP 2021

The recent dismantling of a migrant smuggling ring in Colombia has revealed the routes, corruption networks and modus operandi used…

COLOMBIA / 11 JAN 2022

The 10th Front of the FARC dissidence isn’t letting up. After simultaneously heading off multiple enemies on Venezuelan soil, the…

ELITES AND CRIME / 17 NOV 2021

At around 11 p.m. on April 6, 2020, Lieutenant Colonel Ernesto Solís was returning to the military base he commanded…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Chemical Precursor Report continues to be a reference in the region

19 MAY 2023

For the second week in a row, our investigation into the flow of precursor chemicals for the manufacture of synthetic drugs in Mexico has been cited by multiple regional media…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime’s Chemical Precursor Report Widely Cited

THE ORGANIZATION / 12 MAY 2023

We are proud to see that our recently published investigation into the supply chain of chemical precursors feeding Mexico’s synthetic drug production has been warmly received.

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime’s Paraguay Election Coverage Draws Attention 

5 MAY 2023

InSight Crime looked at the various anti-organized crime policies proposed by the candidates in Paraguay’s presidential election, which was won on April 30 by Santiago Peña. Our pre-election coverage was cited…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in OAS, CARICOM Reports

28 APR 2023

This week, InSight Crime’s work was cited nine times in a new report by the Organization of American States (OAS) titled “The Impact of Organized Crime on Women,…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Staff Cited as Experts by International Media

21 APR 2023

This week, InSight Crime deputy editor, Juan Diego Posada, was interviewed by the Associated Press about connections between the ex-FARC mafia and Brazilian criminal groups, and…