There is fuel for Bolichico flights but not for doctors to get to work. (Part 2 of a 3 part series)

Over the last 6 months the shortage of gasoline, kerosine, propane and other petroleum products that Venezuelans need and PVDSA the national oil company should be able to produce and supply have all grown increasingly scarce.

Doctors trying to fight a pandemic cannot get to work because the gas station is dry. Farmers who have planted the fields cannot fill their tractors to harvest the crops. Trucking companies cannot get fuel to deliver what little food there is to the rural areas outside of Caracas.

In a country of 30 million people, the UN estimates 1 in 3 or 10 million people did not get enough to eat in 2019 before the fuel shortages & COVID-19 quarantine exacerbated the situation.

Despite all of this there is always enough aviation fuel for the plugged in to fly drugs from the west or gold from the south and to travel abroad to Florida, Panama, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Jamaica just to name a few of the frequent destinations.

YV631T - Cessna 525A CitationJet CJ2+

On July 14th at 11 am Venezuelan registered YV631T took off from the Military air field in Valencia, Venezuela and made the half hour flight north east to Maiquetía, the main airport serving the Caracas area. Just over an hour later they took off again this time joined by Panama registered HP3010 and both headed west over Colombia before landing in Panama City around 1 pm. 2 hours later YV631T takes off from Panama and retrace their flight path back to Maiquetia and then Valencia. There are many things about this aircraft and its history that are interesting starting with its owner, Passam Yusef.

Mr Yusef is the owner of Siragon, one of Venezuela's largest electronics manufacturers. He is known to be closely associated with the Venezuelan Foreign MinisterJorge Arreaza. Sources have revealed that since early 2019 YV613T has been designated to Rafael Lacava governor of Carabobo State, which explains why it is able to fly when air traffic is banned and why it operates from a Venezuelan Military air base. In October of 2019 the aircraft was detained by U.S. Customs and Border control after suitcases on board were found packed full of U.S. currency for which the occupants had no explanation as to how it came to be in their possession . The cash was seized and the U.S. Visa's held by the passengers and pilot were revoked but they were not arrested and allowed to leave the country.

Written with information and images from ADSBExchange.com