AFP, Maracaibo :
Carmela de la Hoz sent a customer away with his hair half cut when the power went off in her salon. The customer will be back — but so will the blackouts.
The rolling electricity cuts the Venezuelan government ordered across the country starting this week have hit the city of Maracaibo hard.
Security forces are patrolling the streets to prevent unrest following reports of looting in Maracaibo and other towns, a sign that Venezuela’s economic crisis is close to boiling point.
In their green uniforms, they guard subways and entrances to supermarkets where locals queue for hundreds of meters (yards) to buy rations of food and supplies.
Citizens have already been short of basic goods for months. Now the power cuts prompted by an electricity shortage are driving locals to despair.
“This is a disaster,” De la Hoz said. “We can’t live here.”
“How can I work without electricity? How can I pay my five employees and rent the premises?”
Carmela de la Hoz sent a customer away with his hair half cut when the power went off in her salon. The customer will be back — but so will the blackouts.
The rolling electricity cuts the Venezuelan government ordered across the country starting this week have hit the city of Maracaibo hard.
Security forces are patrolling the streets to prevent unrest following reports of looting in Maracaibo and other towns, a sign that Venezuela’s economic crisis is close to boiling point.
In their green uniforms, they guard subways and entrances to supermarkets where locals queue for hundreds of meters (yards) to buy rations of food and supplies.
Citizens have already been short of basic goods for months. Now the power cuts prompted by an electricity shortage are driving locals to despair.
“This is a disaster,” De la Hoz said. “We can’t live here.”
“How can I work without electricity? How can I pay my five employees and rent the premises?”
