Venezuela and Colombia agree to close border nightly

Due to rampant smuggling of oil and other goods between Venezuela and Colombia, both nations have agreed to close their shared border every night.

Bloomberg reports that the border will be closed between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. The length of the joint Colombian-Venezuelan border is 1,400 miles.

One of the major factors in the decision to close the border is the smuggling of oil from Venezuela to Colombia. Venezuela is one of the largest oil producers in the world, and it is also a socialist country. For this reason, the state of Venezuela subsidizes the price of gasoline for all of its citizens.

A Venezuelan can buy gas for around six U.S. cents a gallon. In Colombia, the price of a gallon of gas goes for around $4.60.

Reuters reports that the gas tank of a small vehicle can be filled at a price lower than a bottle of water.

Food is another commonly smuggled item. Things like cooking oil and staples like grains and rice can cost as much as 10 percent more in Colombia, according to Bloomberg. 

It is believed that 10-15 percent of all the car gasoline, and 20 percent of the rice consumed in Colombia has its origins in Venezuela.

Organized crime syndicates smuggle an average of 60-100 tanks of subsidized Venezuelan oil into Colombia daily.

The BBC says that so far in 2014, 40 million liters of gasoline and 21,000 tons of food have been seized at border crossings.

The smuggling problem not only diverts Venezuelan funds from the Venezuelan people, it helps to exacerbate shortages of food staples and other goods that plague markets around the country.

The BBC reports enough food to feed 700,000 people a month is smuggled out of Venezuela. The Venezuelan government has estimated that around 40 percent of goods produced in Venezuela end up in Colombia.