The bachaqueros are still at it
The goajiro gasoline smugglers from Zulia State are not taking the recent crackdown on smuggling sitting down.
When the Army and the National Guard were about to seize some gas pipes, the bachaqueros attacked, burning a military vehicle. They also shut down traffic in the main road of the Guajira.
The Chavernment used the bachaqueros as the perfect excuse to implement a defacto gas rationing in Zulia (already in place in neighbor Tachira State). This system, applied through a chip installed in a car’s windshield, was suspended days later by PDVSA for “technical reasons”. Many think that the real reason was electoral, given the huge public backlash it created.
At the time, the National Guard was busy taking off some billboards, while protecting others.
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