Venezuela’s ‘chauffeurs in uniform’

San Cristobal – In crisis-hit Venezuela, even soldiers are struggling to make ends meet on meagre salaries rendered practically worthless by the highest inflation in the world and have taken to moonlighting – as taxi drivers.

Some have taken to sneaking out of their barracks to pick up customers needing a lift – a job that can earn them 60 times their monthly salary with just one trip.

“I’m a father and given the situation in the country, my salary is worth nothing,” a 39-year-old sergeant said under the condition of anonymity.

“I do my taxi journeys and I earn much more than in my other job – that’s why I do it,” he added.

The sergeant can earn more than $500 (about R7 600) for driving passengers from San Cristobal on the border with Colombia to the capital Caracas, about 800km to the northeast.

His monthly wage as a soldier – nine million bolivars – is worth just $8.

However, regular taxi drivers are furious and say members of the armed forces have an unfair advantage: their uniform.

“They don’t get stopped at police checkpoints” where drivers are often asked for a bribe and “they don’t have problems getting fuel”, complained Eusebio Correa, a 57-year-old career taxi driver.

“The military that should be providing security are now chauffeurs in uniform.”

Sourcing fuel for vehicles is a major issue in Venezuela, but especially in remote Tachira state and its capital San Cristobal.

Fuel shortages have led to people waiting at gas stations for days at a time to fi ll their tanks, or alternatively turning to the black market, where prices are considerably higher.

That added cost has subsequently pushed up the price of taxi rides.

But since the military controls gas stations, soldiers don’t face the same restrictions the general population does.

“This uniform that I wear represents respect. With the uniform, I can come and go anywhere,” admitted the sergeant.

The salaries of the rank and file may have plummeted alongside everyone else’s earnings in a country that has been in recession for seven years, but the military as an institution remains powerful.

It is the main power propping up the government of President Nicolas Maduro.

The military also controls oil, mining and food distribution companies, as well as customs and several key ministries.

Venezuela’s opposition and some rights organisations claim many top military officials have got rich through corruption.

The taxi-driving sergeant said he started “escaping” his barracks to moonlight once the country was put under a coronavirus lockdown. –