Everyday hundreds of Haitians pound the Caracas streets hoping to sell enough ice cream to send money home to their families. Pushing a refrigerated cart full of ice cream around the Venezuelan capital can earn a vendor as much as three times what they could earn back in Haiti.
This has attracted many Haitians desperately seeking work and needing money for survivors of the January 12 earthquake that devastated the Caribbean nation and killed more than 200,000 people.
Martin Rangel, who manages a depot for ice cream brand Efe, said almost 70 percent of the vendors working for him are Haitian. Rangel hands out carts full of ice cream to vendors who take a 26 percent commission on whatever they sell.