Collapsing nation left powerless
One of the most severe power outages in Venezuela’s history ravaged the country for a second day yesterday, with hospital patients languishing in the dark, most supermarkets closed, and phone services largely knocked out in the oil-rich but economically collapsing country.
Venezuela, which has been roiled by a political struggle between President Nicolas Maduro and opposition leader Juan Guaido, has been hit by power cuts before. But the blackout that began on Friday is the longest and most widespread in recent memory, a sign of the rapid deterioration of the economy, which is expected to contract sharply in the next few weeks as United States sanctions on the oil industry begin to bite.
Power began to flicker on in the capital, Caracas, and other parts of the country yesterday. But most shops and restaurants were closed, and few cars ventured into the streets. The outage also stalled refineries and oil plants, the source of nearly all Venezuela’s export revenue.
At hospitals, doctors and nurses struggled to help patients in facilities with no light or electricity. At the private Avila clinic in an upper-middle-class neighbourhood of Caracas, a generator kept a few areas running, such as the emergency room.
But Daniela Ruiz, who was 39 weeks pregnant, sat uncertainly on a couch in the reception area. Doctors had planned to induce labour, the 32-year-old communications consultant said. ‘‘Because of the lack of electricity, nothing is working.’’
Her husband, Daniel
Cisneros, 33, said he had never seen anything like the outage. Asked who was responsible, he said: ‘‘For the people here, everything that happens in the country is Maduro’s fault.’’
Maduro blamed the outage on sabotage by the US government, which has backed Guaido’s effort to force out the authoritarian leader. Maduro offered no evidence for the claim. He ordered schools and offices closed.
Elliott Abrams, the US special envoy for Venezuela, denied any US role in the blackout.
State electricity company Corpoelec said there had been ‘‘sabotage’’ of the Guri hydroelectric complex in southern Bolivar state, the source of most of the country’s electricity.
State TV reported that security forces and the military were being deployed nationwide to protect the electrical system and to help people during the blackout.
For years, experts and workers at the state electric company have warned about a crippling lack of maintenance and a massive exodus of professionals from power plants and other institutions. Russ Dallen, a Florida-based managing partner at brokerage Caracas Capital Markets, said the cause of the outage was that the government ‘‘stole the money that should have been invested in upgrading the power grid and in buying power plants’’.
In some buildings, the water has stopped flowing as pumps stop working. With lifts not functioning, neighbours have had to carry disabled elderly residents to their apartments on the upper floors of buildings.
At the University Hospital of Caracas, which serves a poor clientele, a woman with Aids who was receiving intravenous nourishment died overnight when a catheter slipped from her arm and no-one noticed in the darkness, a doctor said.
Guaido, who called for another round of anti-Maduro demonstrations today, tweeted that the blackout was not the result of foreign sabotage.
At a public hospital in El Valle, a poorer neighbourhood of Caracas, hallways and operating rooms were dark yesterday.
‘‘Our biggest problem today was the lack of staff,’’ said Victor Siegert, a doctor who is director of the Hugo Chavez Frias Maternity and Children’s Hospital. Many couldn’t arrive because the city’s metro and public transportation were barely operating.
Jose Luis Mesa, a 49-year-old electrician whose infant grandson was being treated at the emergency room of the University Hospital, said workers frantically tried to keep the building’s generators working. ‘‘We saw how the security guards ran all over the place to get diesel.’’
Most supermarkets were closed. Eduardo Dominguez, 45, a graphic designer, wanted to purchase food, but cashiers weren’t accepting his debit card because of the electricity outage. ‘‘They don’t accept (US) dollars. I can’t buy anything,’’ he said.
– Washington Post