Venezuela Expands Anti-Smuggling Crackdown With New Closure

[Bacchus4.0]

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/venezuela-expands-anti-smuggling-crackdown-closure-33609688

Workers, vacationers and members of a nomadic indigenous community were left stranded Tuesday as Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro expanded the closure of the border with Colombia as part of an anti-smuggling offensive.

Maduro ordered the closure of the main border crossing in Venezuela's biggest state Monday night, further exacerbating an ongoing diplomatic crisis with Colombia, which is struggling to absorb thousands of migrants who have fled the crackdown.

Until now, the offensive had targeted Tachira state across the border from Cucuta, a Boston-size city in Colombia that has long relied on smuggled gas, food and other goods purchased in Venezuela at bargain-basement subsidized prices.

In moving his focus north to Zulia state, Maduro is encroaching on a more vital economic hub around the oil metropolis of Maracaibo, Venezuela's second-largest city.