We live in a country where everything works, everything we seem to desire is available at the tip of our hands. It's easy for a first world country to provide basic needs such as water, light, and food for their citizens which is always at our reach.
For Spring Break, I went back to my country, Venezuela. If you don't know what Venezuela is going through, we are living history with the country's government becoming the world's cruelest teasers, and the system keeps failing after 20 years and the only ones affected are their citizens. During the afternoon of Thursday, March 7 at 4:35 P.M. Venezuela suffered the biggest power outrage in Latin America in 18 of 24 states leaving 32 million Venezuelans in the darkness.
We have suffered these types of problems before. Back in 2016 the government announced blackouts of 4 hours per day, for 40 days or until water levels stabilized. The Guri Dam, the hydroelectric power station, ranks among the largest in the world. On March 7, the Simon Bolivar Hydroelectric Plant failed, due to the systems' lack of maintenance over the past 20 years. In the following days, we were all suffering from the onset of the blackout. Government officials claim the blackout was "an act of sabotage", while experts reasonably stated that the failure of the infrastructure was the insufficient maintenance it has received over the years.
It's time to make a shift in how we allocate our attention. We must focus on what is pleasurable, nurturing and sustainable in our lives instead of focusing on the negative, annoying and frustrating events. Begin with enjoying the little things in life.
Thursday, March 7, 2019
Venezuela is seen to have little to no power, experiencing the the largest power outage in history
At 4:35 P.M. the largest power outage in history affected the electricity sectors in Venezuela in 18 of 23 states, causing serious problems in hospitals, industry, transportation and water services. The Guri Dam caused the turbines to increase their speed, creating an overload on electrical systems. The control systems in Guri were activated to increase energy input, due to the lack of maintenance from the system, this became uncontrollable and forced operators to disconnect the generators in the dam.
Since the thermal power plants are not being operated in the right way, due to the shortages of fuel, it has exacerbated the power grid and contributed to continued blackouts among the country. Hoping that everything will be over in a few hours, Venezuela continued to experience life with no power or communication, causing a deepened sense of isolation and decay, endangering hospitals patients, forcing schools and businesses to close and cutting people off from their families, friends from the outside world.
Friday, March 8, 2019
Like a nightmare, Venezuela kept suffering darkness and isolation. While electricity returned to some part of the capital, Caracas, nearly 24 hours after the shutdown. Now 23 of 23 states are suffering from the power outage. My family and I woke up trying to find some information about what type of issues we were facing. Charging our phones in the car, searching for signal standing on the side of the highways, and waiting long hours in line at a few gas stations that were operational at the moment. Everything seemed unreal, I couldn't believe what I was seeing with my eyes. We were in another era, a prehistoric one, where people were uncertain. Around the country you could feel the tension, most stores and restaurant were closed, few cars ventured into the street. In hospitals, doctors and nurses struggled to help patients in facilities because of the lack of electricity services.
Saturday, March 9, 2019
People collected water falling from a leaking pipeline along the banks of the Guaire during rolling blackouts, which affects access to running water in people's homes.
Venezuelans keep struggling. The power outage has affected water pumps in some neighborhoods in the capital, meaning that people were waiting to fill water bottles at public locations such as springs. With inoperative elevators, neighbors had to carry disabled elderly residents to their apartments on the upper floors of buildings. At the same time, Venezuelans were struggling to put food on their tables, worrying that the few items in their fridges would spoil.
On Saturday afternoon, Juan Guadió, the interim president, led a new mobilization at 3:00 P.M. via social media to put pressure Nicolas Maduro to give up his charge. But how can people fight when they are worried about the food being spoiled in their fridge, no water to shower, and no light after 5:00 P.M. By this time Venezuelans are making the best out off the situation and of course, the only topic that everyone brings to the table is: What is really happening? Are we going to keep suffering an inefficient government for the next years?
Sunday, March 10, 2019
The current economic and political situation is affecting the inhabitants making this chaotic situation even more devastating. According to NetBlocks, the country was experiencing more than 82 hours without power and 74% of the country remained offline. People began drinking water from the heavily polluted river, El Guaire in Caracas. Long lines kept forming around gas stations, which is very unfortunate considering that Venezuela has one of the world's largest oil reserves. As I said, unbelievable.
Monday, March 11, 2019
People lie on the ground, face covered, after being detained by officers for allegedly looting a supermarket to find their basic needs
By 1:20 A.M. we heard a loud and scary sound, an electric transformer exploded adjacent to the Concresa shopping center, several areas of Caracas again are without light. Power started to restore in Caracas, but still, a large part of the country is still suffering from the power outage. A great variety of people were worried about their families needs, the reason why alleged looting in different neighborhoods started happening, the guilty were detained by security officials for their crimes. My flight was scheduled for this date and got canceled.
The morning I went to Maiquetia where the Simon Bolivar International Airport is, you could see stranded passengers during a power outage and a lot of American Air suspended to Venezuela services as pilots refuse to fly because of security concerns, shutting down the only flights to the country by a major U.S. carrier, American Airlines. International airlines have complained about staff being held up at gunpoint, luggage theft, poor maintenance, and low-quality jet fuel. The blackout grounded planes at Maiquetia airport outside Caracas, where passengers had to wait in long lines for their passports to be manually screened.
Tuesday, March 12, 2019
Juan Guaido (left), Nicolas Maduro (right)
Radio Free Europe/Radio Library
More than 48 hours continuous with no power, the electric transformer affected different areas around Caracas neighborhoods, causing more days without power and water. On Tuesday morning, my dad woke me up saying that there was no more water in the building and that the water pumps weren't working anymore. Because of that, we had to move everything from our fridge and freezer so food didn't get spoiled and move it into my uncle's apartment since the electric power and water pumps were working properly.
The nation has had this political crisis since January, when the opposition leader, Juan Guaidó declared himself interim president, forming a parallel government backed by the US and 50 other democracies. This has been described as a way to put pressure on the embattled president, Nicolas Maduro, but if introduced, they will inevitably create more problems for citizens who are struggling with hyper-inflation and have had trouble obtaining basic necessities even before the latest political crisis. Guaidó said he will call a "state of national emergency", while Maduro vowed to fix the problem "step by step."
Wednesday, March 13, 2019
Simon Bolivar International Airport, Maiquetia
After purchasing a new ticket in a different airline, I got to the airport where part of it was functional, the airport was collapsed but I managed to go through security, immigration and got out of the country leaving behind my family who still resides in Venezuela. Is really heartbreaking that anybody, especially, Venezuelans have to suffer through this situation. Nobody deserves to live in a country with a lack of basic needs. I still pray for my family and every Venezuelan who is still suffering due to an inefficient government and its rulers.
Venezuelans are known by having the best attitude in the world, even with everything that is happening you can see Venezuelans taking the best out of the situation. Happiness is everywhere you let it be. Small things that give you seconds or even minutes of joy can increase how you see life and how you can appreciate, even more, things that do not require any monetary investments or significant change in lifestyle, yet these little moments make the day even better. The best thing is to find and create moments of happiness throughout difficult times such as the ones Venezuelans are experiencing, even though we had a national shutdown, the tension is high and the government keeps failing, finding those little moments of happiness through the day can increase and appreciate the value of what is really important, just be aware of them when they happen.
