For years, Colombian gangs have smuggled gasoline from Venezuela. Which is crucial for the cocaine drug trade. Venezuelas current social and economic crisis has left extreme shortages of fuel in the country. Colombian gangs are now tapping into Colombian pipelines and stealing gasoline thats needed for the drug trade. Even sending some of the fuel back towards venezuela which is a reversal in the historic smuggling trade. In 2020, 2,000 barrels were stolen each day. This is a rise from the 1700 back in 2016. The theft of crude comes mostly from the Cano Limon-Covenas pipeline near the Venezuelan border. This is a subsidary from Ecopetrol, which is a state owned Columbian oil company.
When I first read this article I wasnt thinking of the compounding effects that this oil theft will leave. Theft from the Cano Limon-Covenas pipeline has been going on for years. What makes this situation different is that the Colombian drug gangs are no longer able to smuggle in crucial oil from Venezuela. The theft from this pipeline is at unprecedented numbers. Multiple drug gangs who have not yet stolen from this pipeline are more than likely planning to soon as the Colombian government has done nothing to punish these gangs. Through reading and watching gang interviews, I know that not acting is a sign of weakness in gang culture. When these drug gangs are seeing other gangs steal from a nationally owned pipeline and seeing that the government isnt actively acting on it, it creates a view of weakness on the government looked at by the gangs. I think that in the near future were going to see another rise of theft because the government isnt actively acting on it. Not only will this create a oil theft rise but also more crime in general as the gangs will use the no action from the government as a sign to start acting out even more with no repercussions.
I picked this article because it directly connects to International Relations for a couple reasons. Now that there is stolen oil being smuggled into Venezuela the relations between the 2 countries might take a turn for a worse if Colombia ends up pointing the finger at Venezuela. The second International relations portion is the fact that Colombia now needs more oil. They are going to have to either by more from another country, which will strengthen those international and business ties. Or, they are going to have to deal with their own people and revolts when they have to up the price of oil dramatically due to the limited supply and massive need.