Fish smuggling in Venezuela

Fishermen and traders in the border state of Apure, in the country’s "llanos" or agricultural plains, speak openly of negotiating with Colombian guerrillas and bribing Venezuelan authorities in a trade that keeps whole villages fed. A fisherman, pictured above, holds a stack of Bolivar notes after selling his catch to buyers.

"There's no other work. The fish pay for our food, our clothes, our children's studies, everything," said one man, Jesus Rodriguez, 53, who supplies coporo fish to buyers at the beginning of the smuggling chain.

Working with boats and nets on the river, the fishermen in El Yagual village sell their catches to traders who load as much as 3.5 tons per canoe for the trip to Colombia.

Venezuela's strict currency controls are a main factor driving a contraband trade that has irked President Nicolas Maduro's socialist government and sparked a major crackdown netting hundreds of suspected smugglers.

The fish are carefully packed with ice then covered with cloth before they begin their journey.

In El Yagual, coporo fish go for 70 Venezuelan bolivars per kilogram, but middlemen make four times that after selling in Colombia for pesos then changing the money back on a flourishing currency black market on the border.

The 24-hour journey goes past military checkpoints on the river and into territory held by Colombian guerrillas who for decades have been straying over the border.

"There are lots of dangers," said Luis Machado, 28, one Colombian boatman.

"Whirlpools that can sink you, branches in the water. Then you bump into soldiers, the government, the guerrillas, almost everyone en route!"