“National Alarm” in Venezuela

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In the middle of one of the longest blackouts and a crisis due to lack of water, interim president Juan Guaidó declared the national alarm

As a possible solution to the country's energy crisis, Juan Guaidó, interim president of Venezuela, who is supported by more than 50 countries, issued a document requesting that the country enters into a "national alarm".

Leer en español: “Alarma Nacional” en Venezuela

With the support of the Parliament, with an opposition majority and in agreement with EFE, "the deputies of the opposition caucus unanimously approved the decree and which will rule for 30 days".

In the document, published in his Twitter account, Guaidó takes into consideration "the serious situation that the country is experiencing as a result of the collapse of the national electricity system", and refers to it, which "is not the product of any natural or accidental, but logical consequence of the ineptitude and corruption", and that has as consequence that "the interruption of the electrical supply to make work the necessary equipment to preserve vital functions".

He also refers to the Maduro regime as an usurper and says that "it has been aimed at exposing excuses full of lies and cynicism" and which "can never hide the responsibility of the usurper regime and its immediate predecessors for the disastrous performance of the country's electrical industry (…) what actually happened was that the lack of maintenance and the absence of trained personnel prevented control of the effects of a forest fire (…) that altered the operation of the Guri generators".

Also, as a way to express his dissatisfaction with the situation, he called a march for March 12. Also, he made a call to public and hospital officials to minimize the use of fuel, so that it is used in the few electrical equipments that illuminate the Venezuelan darkness.

You may be interested in reading: Venezuela sinks into darkness

What Maduro says

As a way to counteract the accusations of the opposition, Maduro addressed the "heroic Venezuelan people" and stressed the influence of the United States as the main source of what he considers sabotage. In addition, he explained that this sabotage occurred in three stages, according to Telesur:

1. Cybernetic attack: where the computers of the company CORPOELEC were attacked by a group of hackers to overthrow the system
2. Electromagnetic route: by means of the use of mobile devices with high frequencies the processes of recovery and communications were knocked down
3. Physical route: burns and explosions of substations and electrical stations occurred

In spite of the above, it makes a call "to social and political organizations to maintain an active resistance that promotes solidarity and protects peace". Meanwhile, thousands of Venezuelans are affected by the blackout, which generates constant looting, due to the lack of commercial activity.

At the same time, water has become another big problem that marks the crisis in the country. As La Nación reports, "there is not a drop coming from the taps and you have to buy it or get it where you can. In Caracas, they are paying up to $8 for a 20-liter bottle, when last week it cost about a dollar and a half". Even, the situation is so serious that some Venezuelans have begun to source water from contaminated rivers.

Meanwhile, the situation in Venezuela is getting worse every day, and neither the opposition nor the regime of Nicolás Maduro knows exactly when the services will be restored.

LatinAmerican Post | Laura Viviana Guevara Muñoz

Translated from "'Alarma Nacional' en Venezuela"