Witness

Venezuela: Smuggling Dreams

A father attempts to swap fishing for smuggling in a bid to provide for his family amid economic crisis in Venezuela.

Far away from Venezuela‘s capital Caracas lies a coastal town struggling to feed itself. Cradled in the Gulf of Paria, the town survives on fishing, but almost everything else is smuggled to its shores from neighbouring Trinidad.

With no end in sight to the country’s political and economic crises under President Nicolas Maduro, Jhan Lopez is growing more desperate by the day. 

The 28-year-old fisherman and his family had expected that the government would continue to send food and other necessities to his town, but nothing has arrived in months and Jhan has lost faith that it ever will.

As a single-father, Jhan is looking for alternative means to provide for his daughter and diabetic father. He has decided to join the smuggling trade, but many challenges lie between him and the sacks of rice and medicine that he badly needs.

Single father Jhan Lopez tries to join the smuggling trade to provide for his family [Lali Houghton/Al Jazeera]
Single father Jhan Lopez tries to join the smuggling trade to provide for his family [Lali Houghton/Al Jazeera]