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Venezuela: Maduro calls on armed groups (colectivos) to keep order amid electricity rationing
Source: The Guardian
Venezuela: Maduro calls on armed groups to keep order amid electricity rationing
President announces 30-day power rationing plan and says pro-government colectivos must ‘defend the peace of every block’
Tom Phillips, Latin America correspondent
Mon 1 Apr 2019 16.09 BST
Venezuela’s authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro has called on armed pro-government groups to help subdue unrest as he announced a 30-day electricity rationing plan set to inflict further pain on the population.
In a televised address, Maduro said he had no choice but to take drastic measures while his government rebuilt key sections of Venezuela’s national grid following a succession of crippling power failures since 7 March.
Experts and Maduro’s political opponents say the repeated collapse of Venezuela’s electricity system – which has left millions without light or water – is a consequence of years of neglect, corruption and incompetence.
But in his late-night appearance Maduro repeated the Socialist party line that Venezuela had suffered a series of “brutish attacks” masterminded by his political opponents and their supporters in the White House.
-snip-
Amid growing fears that Venezuela’s crisis could be moving into a violent new phase, Maduro instructed “revolutionary and patriotic” government supporters and armed pro-government gangs known as colectivos to mobilize “to defend the peace of every barrio, of every block”.
-snip-
President announces 30-day power rationing plan and says pro-government colectivos must ‘defend the peace of every block’
Tom Phillips, Latin America correspondent
Mon 1 Apr 2019 16.09 BST
Venezuela’s authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro has called on armed pro-government groups to help subdue unrest as he announced a 30-day electricity rationing plan set to inflict further pain on the population.
In a televised address, Maduro said he had no choice but to take drastic measures while his government rebuilt key sections of Venezuela’s national grid following a succession of crippling power failures since 7 March.
Experts and Maduro’s political opponents say the repeated collapse of Venezuela’s electricity system – which has left millions without light or water – is a consequence of years of neglect, corruption and incompetence.
But in his late-night appearance Maduro repeated the Socialist party line that Venezuela had suffered a series of “brutish attacks” masterminded by his political opponents and their supporters in the White House.
-snip-
Amid growing fears that Venezuela’s crisis could be moving into a violent new phase, Maduro instructed “revolutionary and patriotic” government supporters and armed pro-government gangs known as colectivos to mobilize “to defend the peace of every barrio, of every block”.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/apr/01/maduro-venezuela-colectivos-electricity-power-rationing
