Venezuelans revel in costly petrol subsidy

Sipping a cool midday beer on the banks of the mighty Orinoco river, Antonio frowns with distaste as he reminisces about the days when he used to work hard for a living. With international oil prices soaring and domestic petrol among the most heavily subsidised in the world, he ditched his job at a remote jungle gold mine in southern Venezuela to sell petrol illegally across the river in Colombia. “Being a miner was tough,” explains Antonio, as he takes another slug of beer, adding that most of his fellow workers reached the same conclusion. The gold mine is now abandoned.
“Why bother when you can earn more and work far less by buying petrol for next to nothing here and selling it for good money just on the other side of this river? Of course, it helps that the national guard turn a blind eye for a cut.” Such incentives to smuggle petrol mean the practice is rife in most border areas – locals even say that Farc, the Colombian Marxist guerilla group, is profiting handsomely from petrol contraband in the area. Venezuelans pay just 3 to 4 cents for a litre of petrol. A tank can be filled for as little as $1.50.