Nerves fray, tempers flare as Venezuela blackout continues

Reuters
A darkened supermarket is show with one lone flashlight being used by a worker.

Sunday marked the fourth day for Venezuelans enduring a nationwide blackout with no end in sight. Furious Venezuelans lined up to buy water and fuel in a blackout that has left already-scarce food rotting in shops, homes suffering for lack of water and cell phones without reception.

Authorities have managed to provide only patchy access to power since the outage began on Thursday in what President Nicolás Maduro called an act of US-backed sabotage, but critics insist it is the result of incompetence and corruption.

People a showning standing in line next to a brick building waiting with empty jugs.
People wait in line to try to buy potable water during a blackout in Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela.William Urdaneta/Reuters

The government suspended school and business activities for Monday without providing any information on a likely time frame for resolving the situation, leaving many fretting that it could extend indefinitely.

The country’s worst-ever power outage comes as Maduro faces a hyperinflationary economic collapse and an unprecedented political crisis. Opposition leader Juan Guaidó in January invoked the constitution to assume the presidency after declaring Maduro’s 2018 re-election a fraud.

A security force member stands holding a rifle next to detainees laying on the street, face down.
A security force member stands next to detainees on a street after looting during an ongoing blackout in Caracas, Venezuela.Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters

Angry residents of the Caracas neighborhood of Chacao on Sunday set up barricades along a main avenue and on side streets to protest the continued blackout.

A group of people are shown trying to block a car from driving down a road.
A woman reacts as she and others block a street to show their anger because of the ongoing blackout in Caracas, Venezuela.Carlos Jasso/Reuters

“The food we had in our refrigerators has spoiled, businesses are closed, there’s no communication, not even by cell phone,” Ana Cerrato, 49, a merchant, standing in front of a pile of razor wire and debris.

“We need help! We are in a humanitarian crisis!”

A long line of cars are shown down the street of a gas station in Caracas.
Cars line up for fuel at a gas station a blackout in Caracas, Venezuela.Carlos Jasso/Reuters

Lines at fuel stations extended for blocks as drivers queued for gasoline and busses waited to fill up with diesel. Families stood under the sun to buy potable water, which is unavailable for most residents whose homes do not have power.

State oil company PDVSA said on Sunday that fuel supplies were guaranteed. But only around 100 of the country’s 1,800 service stations were operating due to the blackout, according to gas station industry sources.

A man is shown in the door frame of a darkened grocery store.
A man walks out a grocery store during an ongoing blackout in Caracas, Venezuela.Marco Bello/Reuters

Merchants unable to keep refrigerators working began giving away cheese, vegetables and meat to clients.

Other shops had supplies stolen.

The shelves of a market are shown with items thrown all over the floor after it was looted.
Damage is seen in a supermarket after it was looted in Caracas, Venezuela.Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters

One supermarket in southeastern Caracas was looted on Sunday evening, triggering a shootout with police and National Guard troops, according to Reuters witnesses and an employee who was present. The looters took food including pasta, rice and tomato sauce.

A neighboring shop selling home goods such as plastic chairs was also looted.

A darkened pizza shop is shown with patrons eating by candlelight.
People eat by candlelight at a pizzeria during the blackout in Caracas, Venezuela.Marco Bello/Reuters
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The National Guard rounded up more than 40 people at the scene, tied their hands behind their backs and ordered them to lie face down on a road that authorities had blocked during the confrontation, a Reuters witness said.

On Saturday night, a small supermarket in a working class area of western Caracas was looted after protesters barricaded an avenue and clashed with police, according to neighbors and the shop’s owner, Manuel Caldeira.

“They took food, they broke the display windows, they stole scales and point of sale terminals,” said Caldeira, 58, standing on the shop floor littered with glass. “We weren’t here (when it happened), we got here and found all of this destroyed.”

In a nearly all dark photograph, a child's face is illuminated by a cellphone light.
Children play by a cellphone light during the blackout in Caracas, Venezuela.Carlos Jasso/Reuters

‘No diagnosis’

Guaidó slammed Maduro’s government for failing to explain what was going on.

“The regime at this hour, days after a blackout without precedent, has no diagnosis,” he said at a news conference on Sunday.

Information Minister Jorge Rodriguez said on state television that the government was taking care of the situation, without offering technical details on what was causing the continued outage.

The lights from cars blur into long yellow and red lines down one of the main roads of Caracas during the blackout.
Cars drive down one of the main roads of Caracas during the blackout.Carlos Jasso/Reuters

“While the promoters of hate, death and violence delight in their destabilization plans, President Nicolás Maduro has ordered a deployment of ministers to ensure the Venezuelan people are attended to,” he said.

Guaido invoked the constitution to assume an interim presidency in January, arguing that Maduro’s 2018 re-election was fraudulent. He has been recognized as Venezuela’s legitimate leader by the United States and most Western countries, but Maduro retains control of the armed forces and state functions.

The so-called Lima Group of nations, which includes Latin American countries that have vocally opposed Maduro, said in a statement that the blackout was confirmation of “the humanitarian crisis that Maduro’s regime refuses to recognize.”

A close-up photograph of a clear lightbulb without power.
A view from inside private parking lots during a blackout in Caracas, Venezuela.Ivan Alvarado/Reuters

Elliott Abrams, the Trump administration’s envoy for Venezuela, said Maduro is not open to negotiations and seems intent on staying put.

Speaking on ABC’s “This Week” program, US National Security Adviser John Bolton said Venezuelan military officers were having conversations with opposition legislators “about what might come, how they might move to support the opposition.”

At Venezuelan hospitals, the blackout combined with the absence or poor performance of backup generators led to the death of 17 patients across the country, non-governmental organization Doctors for Health said on Saturday.

Power returned briefly to parts of Caracas and other cities on Friday, but went out again around midday on Saturday.

A woman by a security officer on each arm with one of the officers wearing armor.
A woman is detained by security forces after looting broke out during an ongoing blackout in Caracas, Venezuela.Ivan Alvarado/Reuters

“One can infer from the delays and the results of the failure that it was a problem in the lines that leave Guri, rather than in the plant itself,” said Miguel Lara, a former president of the state-run entity responsible for the electricity system, referring to the Guri hydroelectric power plant which supplies most of Venezuela’s electricity.

The extent of the blackout’s impact on the country’s crude oil production — the source of nearly all the government’s export earnings — remained unclear.

Most of the key joint ventures between PDVSA and foreign partners in the Orinoco Belt, the country’s main crude region, run on their own generators. But many fields in western Zulia state depend on the grid.

One source at a foreign company partnered with PDVSA in a joint venture said output was “stable.”

PDVSA did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

By Brian Ellsworth and Corina Pons/Reuters

Additional reporting by Shaylim Valderrama, Vivian Sequera and Corina Pons and Miguel Angel Sulbaran in Caracas, Luc Cohen in New York, and Susan Cornwell in Washington; Editing by Lisa Shumaker, Marguerita Choy and Daniel Wallis.

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