dagblog - Comments for "Power cut paralyses Venezuela (70% of country)"

Venezuela looks to Colombia

artappraiser — Sat, 14 Sep 2013 00:44:00 +0000

In reply to Power cut paralyses Venezuela (70% of country)

Venezuela looks to Colombia for food aid
By Mery Mogollon & Chris Kraul, Los Angeles Times (via McClatchy), Sept. 13, 2013

CARACAS, Venezuela — An immediate $600 million increase in farm exports from Colombia to Venezuela announced this week could help bail out two presidents who are mired in political problems tied to food and farming.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said Thursday that the initial shipments of Colombian beef, powdered milk, cooking oil, margarine and eggs - all scarce items in supermarkets here in recent months - will begin arriving next week to help create a three-month reserve of foodstuffs.

Venezuela will hold elections for all mayors and city councils on Dec. 8, in which scarcities as well as recent electricity blackouts and high crime are certain to be issues. The government is under pressure to improve living conditions for Venezuelans, who have been hit by a 30 percent annual inflation rate with food prices soaring even more.

In Bogota, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos also announced the huge farm products deal on Thursday, saying it was just the start of a program that would raise annual shipments of his nation's farm products to Venezuela by 20 percent [.....]

Political sparks fly after

artappraiser — Fri, 06 Sep 2013 05:36:49 +0000

In reply to Power cut paralyses Venezuela (70% of country)

Political sparks fly after Venezuela blackout
By Andrew Cawthorne in Caracas, Reuters, Sep 5, 2013

One of the worst power outages in Venezuelan history has given a jolt to President Nicolas Maduro's government and revived opposition accusations that its socialist policies and incompetence are wrecking the country.

Even though Venezuela's 29 million people have endured sporadic blackouts since 2009, there was widespread shock at the extent of this week's outage across two-thirds of the nation.

In the capital Caracas, which the government strenuously shields from rationing, the power went off throughout Tuesday afternoon, causing chaos on the streets.

"This isn't the Third World, it's the Fifth World!" griped student Marilyn Morales, 26, recounting how first she was trapped in underground transport, then had to lend a doctor her iPhone to use as a torch during an appointment in a dark clinic.

Some Venezuelans in the provinces watched the pain in Caracas with a measure of schadenfreude, saying it was about time the privileged residents of the capital, known as "caraquenos," saw what they endured regularly [....]