Venezuela suffers a power outage

On Thursday, March 7, a widespread power outage began in Venezuela, which has had a massive impact on the well being of the country’s 31 million citizens. This total blackout, believed to be caused by the deterioration of infrastructure surrounding the hydroelectric Guri Dam, has resulted the loss of access to necessities, including food, water, gasoline and payment.

The lack of resources has caused the government to halt all transportation in the capital city of Caracas and 19 of the 23 states of Venezuela. With little working transportation, many citizens must walk for hours in order to purchase supplies and food. Additionally, due to the lack of electricity, many hospitals are only 20% functional, and the majority of them lack working medical equipment. Unfortunately, four deaths have occurred at hospitals during the crisis, specifically, at the Miguel Carreno Hospital, Children’s Hospital, Magallanes Hospital, and University Hospital.  

As of Wednesday March 13, power has been restored to six of the affected states, with intermittent power outages still affecting hospitals. Although 80% of the country has had drinking water restored, many still experience contaminated blackwater coming from faucets, and the amount of violence and vandalism have skyrocketed.

Tensions are especially high because there is still conflict between the current president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, and interim-president and opposition leader Juan Guaido, over the future actions of the country in dealing with the crisis. While Maduro claims that the United States is responsible for the power outage, proposing that the U.S. sanctioned an attack on their infrastructure, Guaido ascertains that it occurred due to the age of the hydroelectric equipment and lack of maintenance. The interim-president’s request for a national emergency over the outage has been approved by the National Assembly.

Article by MoCo Student staff writer Amal Abdulkadir of Richard Montgomery High School