Photos: Mad Max style violence stalks Venezuela’s truckers
Updated On Feb 12, 2018 01:32 PM IST
With food shortages widespread in the fifth year of Venezuela’s economic crisis, truckers ferrying produce across the country’s lawless highways have increasingly fallen prey to gangs and frenzied mobs fuelled by hunger to looting and theft.
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Updated on Feb 12, 2018 01:32 PM IST
As night approaches on one of the most dangerous roads in Latin America, trucker Humberto Aguilar hurtles through with 20 tons of vegetables freshly harvested from the Andes for sale in Caracas. When he set off at sunset on a 900-km journey, Aguilar knew he was risking his life. With hunger widespread in a fifth year of economic implosion, Venezuela has seen a frightening surge in attacks on increasingly lawless roads. (Carlos Garcia Rawlins / REUTERS)
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Updated on Feb 12, 2018 01:32 PM IST
Workers load merchandise into Aguilar’s truck next to a papaya seller in Barquisimeto, Venezuela. While truck heists have long been common from Mexico to Brazil, looting of cargoes on roads has soared in Venezuela in recent times and appears directly linked to growing hunger and desperation. (Carlos Garcia Rawlins / REUTERS)
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Aguilar fastens his cargo with rope on a truck. Just a few days earlier, Aguilar said he sat terrified when hundreds of looters swarmed a stationary convoy, overwhelming drivers by sheer numbers. They carted off milk, rice and sugar from other trucks but left his less-prized vegetables alone. “Every time I say goodbye to my family, I entrust myself to God and the Virgin,” said the 36-year-old trucker. (Carlos Garcia Rawlins / REUTERS)
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Andres Pernia drives his truck with a broken windshield. Across Venezuela, there were some 162 lootings in January, including 42 of trucks, according to Oswaldo Ramirez Consultores (ORC) a consultancy which tracks road safety. That compared to eight lootings, including one truck robbery, in the same month of last year. Eight people have died in the lootings this year, according to a Reuters tally. (Carlos Garcia Rawlins / REUTERS)
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Adrian Pernia moves sacks of potatoes from his horse Pinto to a truck during the harvest at a farm in La Grita. The dystopian attacks have complicated the life of truckers who already face harassment from bribe-seeking soldiers, spiraling prices for parts and hours-long lines for fuel. Barred by law from carrying guns, they form convoys to protect themselves, text each other about trouble spots - and keep moving as fast as possible. (Carlos Garcia Rawlins / REUTERS)
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Workers harvest potatoes at a farm affected by pests due to a pesticide shortage in La Grita. “The hunger and despair are far worse than people realize, what we are seeing on the roads is just another manifestation of that. We’ve also been seeing people stealing and butchering animals in fields, attacking shops and blocking roads to protest their lack of food,” said ORC director Oswaldo Ramirez. (Carlos Garcia Rawlins / REUTERS)
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Even once Andean truckers reach cities, there is no respite. Armed gangs often charge them for safe passage and permission to set up markets. These dangers in a country with one of the world’s highest murder rates are pushing up transport and food costs in an already hyperinflationary environment, as well as stifling movement of goods in the nation. (Carlos Garcia Rawlins / REUTERS)
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A worker loads herbs into a truck headed to Maturin. The looters use a variety of techniques, depending on the terrain and the target. Sometimes gunmen on motorbikes surround a truck, slowing it down before pouncing like lions stalking prey. In other instances, attackers wait for a vehicle to slow down – at a pothole for example – before jumping on, cutting through the tarpaulin and hurling goods for waiting companions. (Carlos Garcia Rawlins / REUTERS)
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Mechanics repair a truck that hasn’t been operational due to a shortage of spares. The looters are particularly fond of “miguelitos” - pieces of metal with long spikes - to burst tires and halt vehicles. With new tires now going for about 70 million bolivars - about $300 on the black market or more than two decades of work at the official minimum wage - looters often swipe them along with food. (Carlos Garcia Rawlins / REUTERS)
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Yone Escalante (C), shudders when he recalls being ransacked. When one of his trucks broke down, about 60 people appeared from the shadows to surround it. Soon the crowd had swelled to 300, chanting menacingly “Food for the people!” “They came at us like ants and stripped us of everything. It took me all day to load that truck, and 30 minutes for them to empty it. I could cry with rage.” (Carlos Garcia Rawlins / REUTERS)
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Though events on Venezuela’s roads may seem like something out of Mad Max, truckers say they are often more akin to Robin Hood as assailants are careful not to harm the drivers or vehicles provided they do not resist. “The best protection is to be submissive, hand things over,” said Roberto Maldonado, who handles paperwork for truckers in La Grita. “When people are hungry, they are dangerous.” (Carlos Garcia Rawlins / REUTERS)
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Updated on Feb 12, 2018 01:32 PM IST