Venezuela has its electricity back, for now, but it's still on the verge of collapse
The lights are back on at Quinta Crespo, a bustling public food market in central Caracas. But after Venezuela’s worst blackout in history, there’s a sense of dread at Nancy Rodríguez’s fruit and vegetable stand.
Word from the countryside is that farmers have been unable to find seeds and fertilizer. And the planting season is about to start. Everyone from Wall Street analysts to Rodríguez, who has sold carrots, parsley, bananas and garlic here for decades, worries that this will be the year Venezuela’s agricultural sector collapses.
“The situation is critical,” said Rodríguez, 70, squatting on a plastic stool as customers handled her food, then moved on without buying. “There’s already very little production.”
The five-day nationwide blackout this month was a dramatic sign of the crumbling of Venezuela’s infrastructure. But it was probably only a curtain-raiser for a broader disaster expected in the coming weeks and months as the country’s political crisis deepens, according to economists, diplomats and aid workers here.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/venezuela-has-its-electricity-back-for-now-but-its-still-on-the-verge-of-collapse/2019/03/20/1cb0060e-4986-11e9-8cfc-2c5d0999c21e_story.html
