Venezuelans turn to looting amid nationwide blackout

[KambingSociety]

https://nypost.com/2019/03/11/venezu...wide-blackout/

Venezuelans in the capital city of Caracas have turned to looting as a nearly nationwide blackout gripping the economically struggling nation entered its fifth consecutive day Monday.

Sweeping power outages have ground business to a halt and left the South American nation?s public transportation and hospitals crippled since Thursday.

The death toll rose to 17 on Monday, according to opposition leader Juan Guiado, who seeks to wrest power from President Nicolas Maduro.

The oil-rich nation has struggled with out-of-control inflation, rendering its currency practically worthless. Photos show trees in Caracas festooned with now-worthless bol?var notes, and desperate residents have turned to looting as the country teeters on the edge of total mayhem.

?We don?t want to loot stores, we don?t want to cause problems. What we want is food. We?re hungry,? a Caracas resident named Majorie told the BBC.

Photos show ransacked grocery stores and security forces detaining groups of dozens of people amid looting. Pro-government biker gangs known ?colectivos? are reportedly enforcing vigilante law at gunpoint.

So far, 17 people have died due to a lack of power in hospitals ? including an infant in a Caracas neonatal center, according to reports.

?As we walked through the ward, we saw a mother crying and we found out that one of the babies in intermediate care had died,? a nurse named Patricia told BBC.

Some children were reportedly being kept alive by manual respiration.

Guaido, the country?s self-described interim president who has the support of more than 20 nations including the US, called the deaths ?murders? on Sunday.

?I can?t call it anything else, due to lack of electricity. Imagine if in your country, you wake to the news that there?s been four days without electricity because they steal from electricity plants and 17 people died. That?s murder,? he said, according to CNN.

Maduro has claimed US espionage was responsible for the failure of Venezuela?s national electrical system, but regional authorities blamed problems at the country?s main power plants.

[KambingSociety]

https://www.npr.org/2019/03/12/70246...y-in-venezuela

Amid continuing unrest in Venezuela, the United States plans to remove all diplomatic personnel from the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on Twitter late Monday.

"The U.S. will withdraw all remaining personnel from [the U.S. Embassy in Venezuela] this week," Pompeo tweeted. "This decision reflects the deteriorating situation in #Venezuela as well as the conclusion that the presence of U.S. diplomatic staff at the embassy has become a constraint on U.S. policy."

U.S. citizens and government personnel have been advised to avoid areas of demonstrations and large gatherings, which have taken place throughout Venezuela for weeks as President Nicol?s Maduro faces pressure from a U.S.-backed coalition to step down. The U.S. and many other western countries back opposition candidate Juan Guaid?, who has been working to engender support for his claim to the presidency.


Secretary Pompeo
✔
@SecPompeo
The U.S. will withdraw all remaining personnel from @usembassyve this week. This decision reflects the deteriorating situation in #Venezuela as well as the conclusion that the presence of U.S. diplomatic staff at the embassy has become a constraint on U.S. policy.

The country has been beset by a major power outage in recent days, and drivers wait in line for hours at the few gas stations that are still operational, NPR's Philip Reeves has reported. Some Caracas neighborhoods have no functioning water pumps, and schools and public offices were closed Monday. The country has suspended school and business activities Tuesday as well, Reuters reported. The majority of the country's Internet network remained offline.

Pompeo has blamed Cuba and Russia for the blackouts. "When there is no electricity, thank the marvels of modern Cuban-led engineering," Pompeo said at a State Department news conference Monday, according to The New York Times. "When there's no water, thank the excellent hydrologists from Cuba. When there's no food, thank the Cuban communist overlords."

For his part, Maduro said the outage was an "electric coup" carried out by "criminal minds" in the U.S., CNN reported. "The imperialist government of the United States ordered this attack," he said.