BOGOTA, Colombia – Ten to 15 times a week, Jorge repackages a stash of bottles and pills and then sends a message to his network of couriers. There's always someone willing to carry the package to Venezuela tucked into their luggage.
There's nothing illegal about this trafficking operation — it's prescription medicine on its way to people who desperately need it. But in Venezuela, where such acts of kindness are often seen as a political statement, Jorge wants to remain anonymous.
"It's simple," he said of the secrecy. "If you use my name the government might accuse me of being a smuggler or a bachaquero" — the price-gougers who are often targeted by the government. "Everything I say can be used against me."
It's no secret that Venezuela lacks just about everything. But the shortage of lifesaving drugs, even over-the-counter medicine, is perhaps the most heartbreaking. Venezuelans are dependent on loose networks of people who live abroad, like Jorge, to stay alive.
The Pharmaceutical Federation of Venezuela, an industry group, says more than 85 percent of all drugs are either impossible or difficult to find in the country. While there's no way to know how many people have died because of a lack of medicine, anecdotal evidence abounds.
In June, the family of Susana Duijm — an actress and model who won the Miss World pageant in 1955 — took to Twitter and Instagram pleading for blood-pressure medication after she was hospitalized. She died.
In March, an 18-year-old died of a shellfish allergic reaction when the hospital she was taken to didn't have epinephrine or oxygen.
Infant mortality increased more than 100 percent between 2012 and 2015, often due to lack of basic medical supplies.
Mildred Varela, 45, who has had breast cancer since 2014, teamed up with 66 other cancer survivors to form a network that helps its members find medicine either in Venezuela or abroad. The medicine that has been hand-carried from places like Miami, Madrid and Bogota has been a literal lifesaver, she said.
"It's not always the quantity we need and it doesn't come in with the frequency we need it, but it helps," she said.
The government blames the shortages on such things as Colombian smugglers and "economic warfare" waged by its enemies.
To complicate matters, Venezuela is refusing offers of help, even as the United Nations has urged Caracas to "consider accepting humanitarian aid."
"The government of Venezuela will not accept that it has a problem," said Freddy Ceballos, the president of the Pharmaceutical Federation of Venezuela, which represents the industry.
"What we need is a change in attitude," Ceballos said. "Health can't wait and every day people are dying."
