Soldiers moonlighting as taxi drivers

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.

San Cristobal: In crisis-hit Venezuela, even soldiers are struggling to make ends meet on low 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.

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The sergeant can earn more than $500 for driving passengers from San Cristobal on the border with Colombia to the capital Caracas, some 800 kilometers (500 miles) to the north-east.

His monthly wage as a soldier — nine million bolivars — is worth just eight dollars.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.”

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. “For the release permits, sometimes I ask for medical leave. You even make up stuff to your own colleagues. I know many who do this job, right up to our superiors,” said the sergeant.

Under the lockdown, regular comings and goings were restricted — and only authorised via passes issued by the military.

A 32-year-old lieutenant, who also asked for anonymity, said he had thought about getting into driving but has so far decided against it for security reasons. “You’re afraid that one of these passengers could be transporting drugs,” he said. “We also get stopped at checkpoints from other military branches or the police, and imagine if I got myself into trouble for a little bit of money.”