On Thursday, the San Geronimo B substation went down, sending Venezuela’s capital city, Caracas, into darkness. Today, 18 of the country’s 23 states remain affected by the outage, food supplies are running short, and it has been reported that the country’s private sector has lost an estimated $400 million as a result of the blackout.
Venezuela’s problems go back to 1999 when the charismatic and ebullient late President Hugo Chavez established a socialist government, at a time when Venezuela was against the backdrop of vast wealth but had huge inequality. That is the government his predecessor President Nicolas Maduro took over in 2013.Venezuela has been caught in a downward spiral
Trapped in a downward political and economic spiral, the instability in Venezuela caused by a weakening democracy and the spread of violent crime has profound consequences for Latin America and the rest of the world. As Nicolás Maduro enters another presidential term bankrupt and isolated, the deep roots of organized crime that support his government will
