As Nicolás Maduro forced all TV and radio stations to broadcast his accusation that the U.S. caused the collapse of Venezuela’s power grid, the secret police was arresting Luis Carlos Diaz, the journalist and occasional Caracas Chronicles contributor, that state media is framing for “sabotage”.
While caretaker President Juan Guaidó decrees the emergency and installs a situational room, the Maduro regime stays silent about the precise diagnose and forecast of the crisis, besides the propaganda trope of sabotage. This is what we can assess on the fifth day of the nationwide blackout.
Following the old Roman custom of bread and circus, the Maduro regime has been menacing the country’s baseball and soccer football teams to support the illusion of normality. But as we just saw in a protest in Maracaibo, the players are refusing to follow orders and are standing with the common people.
One night without electricity in one of the most dangerous cities in the world is stressful. Two, three, four nights in a row, amidst a nationwide blackout, is absolutely terrifying. Priorities, customs, expectations are subjected to all kinds of changes. But one old British novel on a screen can provide shelter.
This is Caracas before Night 4 of the blackout: a ghost town where behavior is increasingly similar to those of apocalyptic novels and movies. Ordinary citizens feel completely abandoned by the State and have no clue of what to expect. The US dollar takes over the survival economy, cash only.
On the afternoon of March 7th, the power went off in all states. In many parts of the country, there has not been a minute of electricity since then to the noon of March 10th. Here is what we know of what could happen in a country that used to export electricity and still has the largest oil reserves on Earth.
Venezuela has been under a nationwide power outage for over 15 hours. There's little information coming out of the country right now.
Three Venezuelan scholars abroad, all of them specialists on the mechanics of Latin American authoritarian political systems, offer their different perspectives on the complexities, risks, and possibilities of the dictatorship’s disintegration.
She fears for her life. She deserted the National Guard and now, she’s desperate to keep running. This conversation with her in the Colombian border is a sample of the state of mind within the Venezuelan Armed Forces: disappointment, economic strain, and distrust among the ranks.
The possibility of military intervention in Venezuela was ruled out this week. But if it resurfaces later, it would need support in the international legal order: the lack of a clear legal basis for a military action can affect the legitimacy of its ends.
We’ve been able to hang on for 22 years in one of the craziest media landscapes in the world. We’ve seen different media outlets in Venezuela (and abroad) closing shop, something we’re looking to avoid at all costs. Your collaboration goes a long way in helping us weather the storm.
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