People at a Caracas Metrobus station amid a nationwide blackout on the morning of August 30, 2024. Photo: Ăšltimas Noticias.
This Friday, August 30, Caracas, like the rest of Venezuela, woke up to darkness. An alleged sabotage on the national electrical grid, similar to the one that the far-right opposition carried out in 2019, came to the minds of those who tend to remember everything, or almost everything.
On this occasion, as in 2019, this was not an obstacle for a wave of people to take the surface transport system (buses) to go to their places of work, lacking the Caracas Metro, which was out of service for obvious reasons. At the city center, a little before 10 a.m., Diario Vea tried to gauge the sentiments of those who consider responsibility as one of the fundamental principles of life.
The hand of the opposition
Alexis González, a resident of the parish of Petare, Sucre municipality, Miranda state, has no doubt about the origin of the blackout. “The opposition’s hands are in this,” he told Diario Vea. “Their attacks and threats are constant.”
In his opinion, the Venezuelan government should broaden the information spectrum so that “there is a clearer idea when these things occur.”
He considers the presence of many Venezuelans in the public transport system a positive fact, as it demonstrates “wanting to move forward. It is progress. Moreover, it is December.”
We have to move forward
Génesis González of La Vega parish, Caracas, vividly remembers the similar situation she experienced five years ago. Is this the work of the opposition? Diario Vea asked her.
“I don’t know what to tell you,” she responded, doubt evident on her face.
She considers that the recent torrential rains cannot be discarded as a possible cause of the blackout. “And even the Guri [hydroelectric dam] is drying, as people are saying on social media,” she continued, adding that she does not trust these sources completely “because sometimes they lie.”
She also prays that there be no repetition of the March 7, 2019, sabotage, “when it was my daughter’s birthday.”
“People have come out to go to work anyway,” Diario Vea commented to her.
“If you don’t work, you don’t eat,” she said. “We have to move forward. I hope this lasts only one day.”
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Authorities should inform people more
JĂ©sus Rivera of La Pastora, who owns a candy shop near the El Venezolano square, also opines that the authorities should broaden the flow of information. “Look, we have not been informed if there have been investments in the maintenance [of the electrical grid],” he commented. “The workers who work there [in the electrical system] don’t say anything about this either. This creates a situation where one thinks there have been no investments.”
“This is like when you have a car, you must invest in it,” he added.
He admired the people’s will to go to their places of work despite the blackout. “You have to clock in. You cannot lose your day of work,” he stressed.
There was no human factor
Lawyer MoisĂ©s Cabrera, a resident of La Pastora whose office is in Altagracia, discarded the human factor in the blackout. “An engineer friend of mine told me that there are faults in the Guri [hydroelectric plant],” he said.
He praised those trying to continue with their lives despite the occurrences, going to their places of work. “All of them are very responsible people,” he emphasized.
The empire is involved
A resident of the Altagracia parish, who preferred to remain anonymous, placed the events of Friday morning in the current political context. “There is a relation. There is no other way. The opposition is acting to destroy everything,” he commented.
“How do they do it, since these companies are administered by the government?” Diario Vea asked him.
“There are accomplices inside. This was planned. This was being planned since before the elections,” he conjectured after pausing to taste some salted peanuts that he took out from a small plastic packet.
“The empire is involved in this. It wants to destroy the country,” he added.
Hope peace prevails
She did not say her name when Diario Vea approached her in Plaza BolĂvar. She almost never looked at the reporters directly. She is a resident of the San Juan parish, according to what she said.
“I do not discard the possibility that this was done by the opposition, like the other times,” she said. “But there is uncertainty. Most people don’t know what is happening.”
She praised the spirit of the people who did not remain at home amid the situation. “Venezuelans are responsible people,” she said.
She also expressed the desire of most people in the country. “I hope peace prevails,” she commented.
(Diario Vea) by Ildegar Gil
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/SC/SF
