Mexico has its “coyotes” or human smugglers who smuggle people illegally across the border into the US.
Venezuela has its “bachaqueros” or human bachacs, highly mobile black marketeers on motorcycles who scurry about like the insects foraging and reselling scarce and highly coveted products such as medicines, milk powder, chicken, disposable diapers, cooking oil and sugar at exorbitant prices.
This was revealed by Dr Jesus Martinez, a visiting physician from Margarita. He was speaking about the increasing unrest in his country caused by deteriorating economic conditions, social and political upheaval marked by power and water shortages, ration lines, food riots and shortages of medicine.
The Sunday Guardian visited the home of Venezuelan national and well-known psychic, Yesenia Gonzalez, on Friday, where she translated for Martinez.
Martinez said the Venezuelan government was not paying the laboratories and pharmaceutical sector. He said many times the medicines reached late and some were expired.
Martinez said there was a critical shortage of life-saving drugs and supplies in Venezuela, such as penicillin, steroids, epilepsy medicine, cancer drugs and pain killers.
He said even cotton and rubbing alcohol were in short supply, so that when writing prescriptions for antibiotics he had to put down several different types, in the event patients could not get the first choice.
Gonzalez interjected that Maduro had turned down aid from his Latin American neighbours for food and medicine claiming that they were not necessary but had spent money to purchase expensive Russian warplanes, tanks and anti-aircraft missiles.
Martinez said his office had no electricity from 8 am to 6 pm and hospitals and clinics also suffered from blackouts.
Gonzalez was gearing up with flags and hats in the Venezuelan national colours and organising a protest against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s planned visit tomorrow to Trinidad.
Gonzalez said Maduro will be greeted with “cacerola,” a pots and pans protest, and “oraciones,” prayers, by Venezuelan nationals residing in T&T calling for his removal.
She said they were going to dog Maduro’s every step outside the Diplomatic Centre, which was most likely where he would meet with government representatives.
Gonzalez said “Venezuelans living in Trinidad are very worried about what is happening in their homeland.
“Their families are not getting basic items such as food and medicine.
“It is very sad that he called a 60-day state of emergency to prevent a referendum calling for his resignation.
“The Zika threat is real with no chemicals for spraying and no mosquito repellents and medicines available.”
Gonzalez said Venezuela was going through a crisis with runaway crime, inflation, people dying in hospitals for lack of medicines, human rights violations and students thrown in jail.
She said restaurants had to close down because of no electricity and water causing the food to spoil.
Gonzalez said the protest was to send a message to Maduro and she asked what he was planning to do here or had to offer T&T.
She said when Maduro visited Trinidad on February 24, 2015, he promised to pay a TT$315 million debt Venezuela owes CAL (Caribbean Airlines Limited) and that never materialized.
Gonzalez said he was just coming to cause trouble and create a distraction hoping that T&T would forget that Venezuela had problems.