Blackouts in Argentina Highlight Failings of Privatisation
Blackouts in Argentina Highlight Failings of Privatisation
By Fabiana Frayssinet
BUENOS AIRES, Jan 10 2014 (IPS) - Record temperatures at the start of the southern hemisphere summer in Argentina have been accompanied by highs on the thermometer of social discontent, as consumption peaks left thousands without electricity and threw into sharp focus the failings of the privatisation of the power industry in the 1990s.
The power outages have gradually become less and less frequent. But the street protests continue, as does the controversy over whether the shortages in energy supply were the sole responsibility of the electricity companies, or whether the government should be blamed as well.
Debate is also raging over what needs to be done to avoid a repeat when the next heat wave hits.
It’s almost midnight in the middle-class neighbourhood of Flores in central Buenos Aires, and the pot-banging protests have woken up the privileged few who have power and air conditioning, in the midst of temperatures that at the end of 2013 were over 40 degrees C in Buenos Aires and surrounding districts.
More:
http://www.ipsnews.net/2014/01/blackouts-argentina-highlight-failings-privatisation/
