It is not unknown that the country's border cities have the main source of income and the services associated with the import and export of consumer and food goods;Nor is it that the bulk of that trade corresponds to smuggling.Pandemia for COVID-19 and the multiple complications involved have worsened that situation.

It is common for people to think, when talking about smuggling, on the extensive routes in the Altiplano and the dangerous maneuvers that execute councils that intern cars, clothing and appliances from Chile, almost ignoring what very similar things occur in the border steps located locatedIn the four cardinal points.

An extensive report published yesterday in La Razón reveals the complex situation that is lived in Yacuiba and in San José de Pocitos, the border crossing where the so -called “Hormigo Hormiga” enters daily, which despite its name implies that every day they are introduced every dayto the country tons of Argentine food and manufacturing drinks that, like Brazilian products, due to the economic crisis are considerably cheaper than those produced in Bolivia.

Add to the appeal that the devaluation of the Argentine and Brazilian currencies imply for importers, whether legal or not, the number of people who were unemployed because of the world health crisis and who have decided to try their luck in the business of the "Bagalleros", that transport merchandise in small hand cars in exchange for a rather meager payment.It is estimated that in Yacuiba at the end of 2019 there were about 100 people dedicated to this work every day and today are at least 700.

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This situation also helps to understand why it is so difficult to dispose of the closure of the borders: many people, already beaten by the emerging crisis of the pandemic and the restrictions that he forced to impose, would not accept that they take away his new sourceof admission, regardless of whether or not it is legal;Add the pressure that the true owners of cross -border trade could impose and the impossibility of exercising true control to the frantic activity of the bagurleros, practically 24 hours a day.

The situation is probably the same in the rest of the very extensive border that bolivia joins with Brazil, and with Paraguay and Peru: Bolivia daily loses war with smuggling due to multiple factors and not only to the structural weakness to protect the borders of thisand other illicit shops.

On the way the national industry is severely damaged, and regardless of the good intentions that the Government could have it becomes difficult to imagine a viable exit.It is urgent that together with more and better anti -policy measures, some also execute some that help people to prefer what is produced in the country.