Name: Inside Venezuela’s Blackout: How Maduro’s Power Endures | The Dispatch
Uploaded: 2020-04-13T17:05:46.000Z
Duration: 8 min 53 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

with the minister for the prison service, Iris Varela.

She is a close confidante of President Nicolás Maduro.

And today, she is escorting a delegation from the Red Cross

on a visit that will air on state television.

Ms. Varela's press office had invited us here.

But it appears she didn't want us to take the full tour.

what the system supporting Maduro looks like.

The government had closed this building down

the Center for the Formation of the New Man.

We learned that they're mostly Colombians held

for crimes like murder and drug trafficking.

Ms. Varela tries to show that the state treats people

The reality we see tells a different story,

starting here on this staged tour, where there's

but this power failure that lasted about a week

paralyzed life and showed that things could still get worse.

We visit Alberto Diaz and his wife, Miriam.

Alberto runs a small watch repair shop with his sons.

and they use most of it just to put food on the table.

But they're careful when it comes to criticizing

So Miriam stores what she can and rations it.

Some are so desperate, they try and collect it

Security is everywhere, restricting access

to places where hardship is most visible, like here

Doctors are outside, speaking about the dire conditions

Andrea is the mother of a 7-year-old cancer patient.

She tells us she sold her apartment and her car

Now she's living at the hospital with her daughter.

are feeling the compounding effects of one crisis

And that's pushed some to take the risk and speak out.

where the government still enjoys widespread support.

Murals of Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's former leader,

He's seen as a hero here for pouring money

And before he died, he picked Maduro as his successor.

Jesus Arellano is 25, and he's unemployed,

Benefits like access to food baskets, medicine

and pensions, but these perks are not doled out purely

Fatherland cards carry personal information —

So government benefits favor pro-government behavior.

called for a protest during the blackout.

We hear it over and over, people repeating

that the United States is responsible for the most

But that claim fits into a popular narrative here:

are generally making people's lives worse.

In January, Guaidó declared himself interim president

and used U.S. support to mobilize the opposition

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Inside Venezuela’s Blackout: How Maduro’s Power Endures | The Dispatch

access

desperate

genuine

crisis