By Melquiades Avila.
Some 320 native communities, mean, 45,000 residents in the state of Delta Amacuro, remain in darkness year-round due to lack of electricity.
The affected towns are located on the borders of the Orinoco River. Their inhabitants assure that nightfall, the shadow takes over their homes.
The leader of the community of Bonoina, Lizandro Moraleda, could communicate with El Pitazo and reported in May that the power plants in the zone are mostly damaged, and that keeps all rural communities of the Orinoco Delta in darkness. In his statement, Moraleda assures that these are settlements that stopped receiving electricity service approximately eight years ago.
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“The night is illuminated by the stars, the moon and the torches,” describes the native leader about what they do to have some light. In general, the lack of electricity service affects an estimated 45,000 inhabitants in three counties of the state.
Moraleda affirms that 95% of the communities settled in the margins of the Orinoco Delta are in darkness due to faulty generators, while other populations are without electricity due to lack of fuel in the area.
In his comments, Moraleda questions the institutions responsible for the functioning of the electric generators; “the mayor’s offices and the government of Delta Amacuro state forgot about them, and never again remembered to repair or replace the electric plants,” he says.
Blackouts and shortage
The socialist leader, Hugo Chavez, decreed an electrical emergency in Venezuela in 2008. Service, however, did not improve after Chavez pronouncement, although vast and increased corruption was detecting in the state-owned electricity sector, mostly through non-binding contracts awarded directly to Derwick, a private company.
Blackouts as well as severe electricity rationing, are the “new normal” for Venezuelans, particularly in rural or indigenous areas.
