The Venezuelan Environment Ministry is testing vehicles traveling on one of the main access routes to Caracas to assess the emissions of contaminating gases. ''In this educational phase, we randomly select 400 vehicles of individuals, public and cargo transport, which use gasoline or diesel. With a portable laboratory that measures emissions, we have found that 45 percent of the vehicles evaluated do not meet environmental standards,'' Washington Sánchez, director of the ministry's environmental supervision unit, told Tierramérica.

The ''lower Tazón'', a stretch of highway that connects the capital with the western part of the country, was chosen to carry out the controls because 70,000 vehicles travel that route each day.

The current educational period, in which drivers of the inspected vehicles receive informational pamphlets, will be followed by one in which drivers or the company owning the vehicles are fined for violating emissions standards.