Power failures come alongside a political showdown between President Nicolas Maduro and opposition leader Juan Guaido, who is recognized as interim president by the United States and more than 50 other countries.
Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro announced 30 days of electricity rationing Sunday, after his government said it was shortening the working day and keeping schools closed due to blackouts.
The blackouts have worsened already dire economic and living conditions in the country, which sits on the world’s largest proven oil reserves. Crippled infrastructure, little investment in the power grid and poor maintenance have all contributed to electricity problems. With no electricity, pumping stations can’t work, so water service is limited. Street lights and traffic lights go dark, pumps at fuel stations stand idle, and cell phone and internet service is non-existent.But people try to find it wherever they can: from springs, leaky pipes, gutters, government-provided tankers, and the little that flows through the Guiare River in Caracas.
The Guri plant, however, was already showing signs of trouble: back in 2010, then-president Hugo Chavez said electricity would be rationed in some Venezuelan states because water was low at the Guri dam due to a drought. Another problem was the “de-professionalization” of the sector, when Chavez nationalized the privately-run power company in 2007, in which pro-government loyalists took positions as managers and engineers.Demonstrations by Venezuelans angry about the blackouts broke out Sunday in Caracas.
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