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The increase in power outages in Venezuela revives fears of a general blackout

The increase in power outages in Venezuela revives fears of a general blackout

The constants power outages in Venezuela are once again a concern for citizens and experts, who confirm a rise in failures throughout the territory, attributed to the overload and lack of maintenance of a “deteriorated” system, which revives the fear of a general blackout.

The Committee of People Affected by Blackouts has registered a continuous increase in the number of failures, going from 3,296 cuts in January to 10,013 in the month of May.

“They have rebounded in recent months (failures) and this is due to the lack of attention in the national electrical system. You can not continue placing hot cloths. A solution must be provided for the entire generation, distribution and transmission network”said the president of the committee, Aixa López.

past vs. present

The great blackout of March 7, 2019, which lasted almost a week, is a shadow for Venezuelans who fear reliving a similar disconnection, and which on that occasion caused a collapse in services and the death of 21 patients in hospitals due to failure of equipment that works with electricity, according to the NGO Doctors for Health.

For the experts, the crisis generated after the 2019 crash It has not diminished and is the result of a lack of attention, maintenance and investment in the system.

Between January and May of this year, 31,123 electrical failures have been registered throughout the territory, a figure that, according to the Blackout Committee, shows “the permanent neglect of the electrical system”.

The oil state of Zulia (west) heads the list of cuts registered by this NGO, which ensures that this region is one of the most affected.

In this entity, 2,010 failures were documented in May, which contrasts with the 423 recorded last January.

Yuraima Benítez, a resident of Maracaibo, the capital of Zulia, assured that in her area “they turn off the light every four hours” in cuts that last until dawn, complicating the rest of the inhabitants of this region, one of the hottest in Venezuela, which requires the use of air conditioning.

Daniel Boscán, another resident of Maracaibo, explained that “when the light goes out” they have to leave their houses or take security risks, leaving doors and windows open to improve ventilation.

However, although blackouts are more pronounced in inland towns, they also occur in the capital, where there have been 613 power outages so far this year.

The discontent over the constant power outages is reflected in numerous demonstrations, as the Venezuelan Observatory of Social Conflict documented 38 protests over power failures during the first three months of 2023.

The problem also affects indigenous communities in Amazonas (south, bordering Brazil and Colombia), where the NGO Kapé Kapé recently denounced “constant and prolonged cuts”.

a structural failure

The mechanical engineer and former vice minister of the extinct Ministry of Energy and Mines Víctor Poleo explained that the electrical crisis is “structural” and dates back to 2007, when the companies in this area were absorbed by the state-owned Corporación Eléctrica Nacional (Corpoelec).

“Building the electricity sector of the 20th century took 50,000 million dollars. Needless to say, until 2015, twice the amount of money it took us to build the electrical system in the 20th century was wasted and corrupted”asserted the specialist.

He stressed that Venezuela was one of the countries that in the 1980s already had “a robust national electrical interconnection system”with an installed capacity of about 23,000 megawatts, of which today it can only generate about 9,000, according to its data.

“The demand may be at 12,000 megawatts and the supply at 9,000. In other words, there is a deficit of 3,000 megawatts. This deficit is the one that is causing rationing in any part of the country at this time, but to this we must add the deterioration of the electrical system ”he pointed.

The authorities acknowledge the problem, but attribute the failures to “attacks” either “sabotage” orchestrated by foreign governments.

However, during his recent visit to Brasilia, President Nicolás Maduro offered Brazil to send some “190 megawatts”through the reactivation of an electrical interconnection plan, suspended four years ago.

Source: EFE

Source: Gestion

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