The Rallies Go on in Venezuela

Venezuela, which depends on a large hydroelectric dam for 80% of its electricity has been without power since Friday, and experts see no end in sight.

At least we knew it would end, and we could go elsewhere easily.

Restarting the turbines requires skilled operators who can synchronize the speed of rotation on as many as nine of Guri's operational turbines. Experts said the most experienced operators have long left the company because of meager wages and an atmosphere of paranoia fed by Mr. Maduro's ever-present secret police.

In a country where some were already eating out of garbage trucks, there are now bad-enough water shortages (caused by the lack of power) that some are collecting water from sewers. In the meantime, the socialist government is apparently still holding political rallies:

"I can't work. I can't do anything," said Veronica Padrino, a lawyer who attended a women's day rally in Caracas. "I can't communicate with my family."

This last comes at the tail end of a news story, which should have included the following:

[Senator Marco] Rubio [R-FL] said food supplies are "distributed to those who are compliant or loyal to the regime," arguing that Maduro accepted Russian aid but blocked Western aid in order to preserve that leverage over Venezuelan society.

"If you go to a Maduro rally, you get food," he said. "If you vote for Maduro -- and they know how you voted -- you get food. If you don't vote or don't vote for him, you don't get food. They have used it as a weapon. This is why he objects to the humanitarian aid."

This I learned after a news search prompted by my wondering why in hell someone would attend a rally under such circumstances. I know my experience with a multi-day blackout a few years ago doesn't hold a candle to this, but fooling around at a rally (other than a protest) would be among my least concerns. That said, I stand by the following:

I thought more than once during my ordeal -- which is really nothing compared to the kind of world these [green socialists] will achieve if they succeed -- that anyone who celebrates "Earth Day" deserves to do so this way: caught almost completely off-guard at a time definitely NOT of their own choosing, and for an indeterminate amount of time.

This goes double for the current wave of socialists who are ignoring a century of history besides the above on the word of someone who says she is moral and says she does not intend to bring us to such an end -- as if Venezuela's socialists said any of this would be the result when they still had to get people to vote for them.

-- CAV