By Lisbeth Miquilena.
The same logs they have to use for cooking, due to a severe gas shortage, were used to block the streets in El Valle del Espiritu Santo sector, state of Nueva Esparta.
The shortage began when the cooking-gas industry was nationalized by former president Hugo Chavez, in 2007. It has since only grown worse, forcing Venezuelans who sit atop some of the largest natural gas reserves on the planet into cooking with wood-like 100 years ago.
Men and women said they were tired of having to use a stove that they improvised in a vacant lot to cook while they spend months waiting for the sale of the domestic gas cylinders. The housewives narrate the odyssey they live to feed their families since they have no gas in their homes.
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“The most dramatic situation of all is that ten families are the ones who use the stove, so we have to take turns for cooking. It is a very depressing situation because, as Venezuelans, we had never lived something like this,” Maria Eugenia Gonzalez told El Pitazo.
Besides this problem, there is also the lack of drinking water and electricity, so they called authorities to attend to the communities and guarantee public services.
“It is not possible that in the middle of the pandemic, where we must be in our homes to avoid the spread of COVID-19, we do not even have water to wash our hands. And the saddest thing is that this government only announces new elections but does not solve the bad situation we are living in,” said Ramon Salazar.
After several hours in the middle of the closed street, officials from the regional police of Nueva Esparta appeared to demand that they remove the debris from the road and allow vehicle traffic.
The inhabitants gave in to the request but warned that if the authorities do not give a favorable response, they will once again take to the streets and go out to demonstrate.
