electricity problems
The barrio, among other places, has been experiencing some serious energy shortages recently. As I said in the last posting, there has been no electricity in the centro for over a week. Not only the centro, but other parts of the barrio as well have been without electricity. In Managua as a whole, we've been experiencing rolling blackouts for about 2 months, and it appears that there's no end in sight for the energy crisis.
Many people asked me about how Daniel Ortega's new government has been doing since they took power in January, and this is a story that came up often in these conversations. He's been building partnerships with the president of Iran and with Hugo Chavez, making plans to build more hydroelectric plants funded by their oil revenues. Today I read in La Prensa that Daniel met with the president of Iran yesterday to solidify and move forward on these plans, also including funding the building of 10,000 houses, a plastics factory, and a large health center. The projects wouldn't start though for at least a year, leaving citizens struggling to get by without basic necessities.
The barrio residents, having a tradition of organizing themselves when facing problems such as these, called Union Fenosa, the spanish-owned electric company, to send out a representative to the neighborhood to get some honest answers. Apparently, at the meeting on Thursday, some wanted to surround the UF truck and make their demands while others wanted to simply talk with the rep. I don't really know what ended up happening because I didn´t get the full story, but we'll have to see if the people will get their electricity back soon. In the meantime, we'll be trying to work in the office without lights, air conditioning or computers. This may mean going home at noon every day... we'll see.
Many people asked me about how Daniel Ortega's new government has been doing since they took power in January, and this is a story that came up often in these conversations. He's been building partnerships with the president of Iran and with Hugo Chavez, making plans to build more hydroelectric plants funded by their oil revenues. Today I read in La Prensa that Daniel met with the president of Iran yesterday to solidify and move forward on these plans, also including funding the building of 10,000 houses, a plastics factory, and a large health center. The projects wouldn't start though for at least a year, leaving citizens struggling to get by without basic necessities.
The barrio residents, having a tradition of organizing themselves when facing problems such as these, called Union Fenosa, the spanish-owned electric company, to send out a representative to the neighborhood to get some honest answers. Apparently, at the meeting on Thursday, some wanted to surround the UF truck and make their demands while others wanted to simply talk with the rep. I don't really know what ended up happening because I didn´t get the full story, but we'll have to see if the people will get their electricity back soon. In the meantime, we'll be trying to work in the office without lights, air conditioning or computers. This may mean going home at noon every day... we'll see.
posted by mbrigell at 3:08 PM
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