Maybe some of you have heard about what is going on in Venezuela, the crisis, the lack of food and medicines, the failed economy, and even the news about Bitcoin adoption, but our reality is pushing for its limits and now seems to be part of a horror movie plot. I even saw something like it on Netflix, there are many movies that have tested the idea of what would happen to the world without electric energy. Right now, my home country is either testing the hypothesis or getting ready for the next season of the Walking Dead, magical realism to its best.
On march 7th the energy went out, a rather normal statement for someone living in Venezuela, usually due to the lack of proper infrastructure maintenance, usually just in a couple of States at a time and usually just for a couple hours. But this darkness is special, it came around all at once and has surpass our historical records, more than 77 hours without energy across the 80% of the country land. The implications of this come to mind as an apocalyptic scenario, where nothing works, no communications, no health care facilities, without electricity there is no even water, without water there is no proper food, and the list goes on. Three days since the "world stood still" and we don't know why.
A brief summary of the past month in Venezuela: since we have a dictatorship that has brought the country to its worst crisis ever over the last two decades, the international community finally said something about it, which gave the political opposition the control of the international bank accounts from the Venezuelan oil industry and open the opportunity of a legal (according to the Constitution) and legitimate transition of power to the current President of the National Congress, Juan Guaidó.
On a series of demonstrations where millions of Venezuelans took over the streets to demand freedom and a new government, public Cabildos (a town council or local government council) were form spontaneously by the people, leading to the public proclamation of Juan Guaidó as an interim president of Venezuela. A role assign just call for new free and fair elections, something we haven't had for a while. Now the country has two presidents: the dictator Maduro, and the new hope Guaidó. The problem remains in that the government controls the military, and the Ministry of Defense already declared they wont leave power.
So in the past months we are living on the verge of civil war and foreign invasion (USA and allies declared that a military intervention option is on the table) Still no food and medicines getting in the country because the government closed our borders and with international trade sanctions there is no commerce coming through our customs. People are getting sick from malnutrition, for the first time in decades child mortality is on the alarm, and Maduro is giving arms to his fellow party members on a call to protect "the revolution". Venezuela is on a quiet war and there is us in the middle, the people living among the chaos, people that are pulling out magic tricks everyday to survive the economic collapse, the people that have fled the country on a search for a normal life, the people that are looking for solutions to bring back home.
I still believe in a better future, I believe in the strength of our people, I believe in Venezuela.
Venezuela Libre!
