The Electricity Crisis in Venezuela: A Cautionary Tale

Last Friday, President Nicolás Maduro declared a sixty-day state of emergency throughout Venezuela. Alluding darkly to an American-backed plot against his regime, Maduro said that the new measure would help him protect his fellow-citizens from foreign and domestic threats, though he didn’t explain exactly how. There is certainly no denying that Venezuela is in dire straits. Inflation is so high that the government cannot afford to pay for the paper on which its currency, the bolívar, is printed. Lines at the grocery store grow longer even as the shelves grow emptier, and hospitals, such as they are, have run out of antibiotics, surgical supplies, and functioning medical equipment. The country’s electrical grid, too, is in a shambles. Planned blackouts roll through almost every region of the country daily, including the capital, Caracas, which has been estimated to have the highest murder rate of any city in the world. Early last month, Maduro announced a national furlough of public employees, instituting a four-day work week to conserve power; by the end of April, the week had shrunk further, to only two days. Time itself has been bent to the government’s needs, with the country’s clocks pushed forward by half an hour. Venezuelans will use all the daylight minutes they can get.