The excuses keep piling up for the failure of Chavismo
From the semi-official mouthpiece of Chavismo, VenezuelaAnalysis.com
Venezuela: Zulia Governor Blames Illegal Crypto Mining for Continuing Regional Power Shortages
Sabotage, lack of maintenance, and climate change have also been offered to explain the crippling blackouts.
By Paul Dobson
May 7th 2018 at 6.05pm
Merida, May 3, 2018 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Regional authorities have blamed “illegal” cryptocurrency mining for the electrical crisis which has gripped the western Venezuelan state of Zulia, without offering more details about such activities.
Zulia has suffered from severe electricity shortages since an important underwater cable was damaged in December, leaving large parts of the region in the dark. Electrical rationing was introduced on March 23.
The shortages come months after the national government unveiled a new regulatory framework for cryptocurrency activities late last year, which sought to rein in illegal mining as well as set down norms for the country’s new cryptocurrency, the Petro. Despite efforts to crack down on unregulated private mining, which has flourished in Venezuela in recent years due to subsidized electricity rates, the activity has continued, exacerbating the country’s already acute power shortages.
On Friday, the governor for the populous western border state, Omar Prieto, claimed that authorities were “working to correct” the problem of illegal mining due to the “excessive demand [it places] on the electrical system” in Zulia.
Authorities have also attributed the continuing electricity shortages to sabotage of the power grid as well as droughts hampering regional hydroelectric facilities, whilst trade unionists have, for their part blamed the problem on lack of maintenance.
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https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/13796
For those keeping score...
Illegal crypto-mining. Because nothing holds its value in Venezuela with an 18,000% inflation rate...
Sabotage. The old standby. In this Bolivarian Utopia, nothing goes wrong unless by design...
Drought. "The reservoirs are empty". Unless you look at the reservoirs and discover them to be full...
Lusty iguanas. My personal favorite. Iguanas fornicating on transformers and cable nodes...
Theft by foreign agents. Subterfuge. The Illuminati has spliced into the power grid and is siphoning off power...
Like Occam's Razor, the real reason is the one most logical and simple. The trade unions have been complaining for 18 YEARS (and getting jailed for complaining) that there has been ZERO upgrade and maintenance to the decaying electrical infrastructure. CORPOELEC (The nationalized electrical system) has quit paying its bills and is bankrupt. When a transformer fails or a substation blows up, there is no equipment to fix it, since there are nothing manufactured in Venezuela. They cannot buy them, because the Venezuelan currency is WORTHLESS and Chavismo has ZERO cash reserves. Nobody takes Venezuelan credit because as mentioned, they don't pay their bills.
But, to the Chavist faithful, nothing is their fault. Its all a grand conspiracy to see them fail...
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