Socialism has not worked out for the people in Venezuela. I realize that those of you who follow this blog will understand the situation there. The Venezuelan government, naturally, blames the United States for all of misery going on. A quick read of Animal Farm or 1984 will confirm that totalitarian governments must always have an outside influence to blame for their failures. 
The nationwide electricity black continues and looks indefinite. On the fifth day of the blackout, on 11 March, the government declared a national holiday, closing government offices and schools. It also has placed the electrical power system under military protection.
Venezuela’s Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez said that the armed forces had begun a “system of aerial reconnaissance” to protect the country’s electrical system from “future aggressions”, according to a post by Venezuelan state Venezolana de Television (VTV) on 10 March.
The Defense Minister said, “We have received instructions from the president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, to continue the deployment of the whole of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB), which has occupied all the electricity stations and sub-stations to advance and guarantee the supply and to protect the system from any other attack which might be being attempted to undermine the spirit of the people.”
The defense minister added that the Venezuelan military were helping the Maduro government to “protect the people in all its needs”, such as in deploying water tanker trucks and other support to logistics and communications.
Venezuela has suffered a major nationwide power outage crisis since 7 March, when a serious failure was reported at the country’s main hydroelectric generating center at Guri, in southeast Bolivar state.
From outer space it looks like North Korea, a dark spot on the globe. It’s funny how this never seems to happen in capitalist countries. The dark is emblematic of the state of affairs under the dictatorship.
The Venezuelan government has blamed the outage on “sabotage” by its domestic and foreign “imperialist” opponents, meaning the US. The Venezuelan opposition has blamed the power crisis on corruption, neglect and mismanagement by the Maduro administration.
One of the immediate effects of the outage has been a spike in crimes against property –theft and looting – at night in all the major cities. 
Power engineering experts say that the prospects for restoring the system are not positive. For one thing, inspectors have to work through the army. For another, spare and repair parts are lacking. Most importantly, the Guri power plant supplies more than 60% of Venezuela’s electricity, including Caracas. There is no national back-up system.
A prolonged electrical outage is particularly prone to incite civil disorder because no amount of self- help or neighborhood cooperation can satisfy needs and wants. The Maduro government’s practice of blaming is not only irrelevant, it is annoying. People want the government to fix the problem and restore the power.  

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17 COMMENTS

  2. It just keeps getting better and better down there. Maduro will retain power as long as the military continues to support him. I just wonder how much longer that will be.

  3. Our grid has a lot wider distribution than one power plant. They could have been building a significant hydroelectric capacity but, as is evident, they didn't. The years of dictatorship have been years of theft from the exchequer.

    It's the same motive that socialists in America have at their heart (See Animal Farm ). Power and money have to be concentrated at the feet of a tyrant in order to fulfill the dream of collectivists.

  4. They pay the military with the gold reserves and have special stores for them so that they and their families can eat. Venezuela was once a rich nation, ample gold, ample resources, and distributed wealth. Today, the power elite, backed by the military remain, and once they lose power, you know that they'll end up dead or in prison. There is ample motivation for them to cling to what they have.

  5. The socialist plan and the way that it works out is an old tragedy, laid out very clearly in Kipling's City of Brass:
    poetryloverspage.com/poets/kipling/city_of_brass.html

  6. Think Columbia might intervene militarily? The two countries have a history of squabbles and raids by narco gangs.

    From what I've read, the border region of Venezuela/Columbia/Brazil is one of the most lawless places on Earth. Then there is news of a major oil discovery off the Guyana coast. That should stir things up even more. Aren't the Chinese heavily invested in the region?

  9. The Chinese are also heavily invested in Venezuela – but yes, Guyana too.

    I can't see Colombia doing anything but accepting refugees and feeding them. There have been squabbles, but I think that they're going to sit this one out.

  12. Very sad. I've often read Venezuela was a beautiful place with friendly people.

    I guess the operative word is "was"…..

  15. Don't worry, they'll have power back soon.

    After the Army executes some rebellious electrons, the rest will fall back into line.

    -Kle.

  16. They don't have parts. And I don't think that they even know for sure what parts they need since the engineers were replaced by soldiers.

  17. I agree entirely – thus my crack about executing the ringleaders of the rebellious electron cabal.

    The tin-horn dictator's classic belief that everything can be solved with force, to a hilarious degree.
    -Kle.

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