Getting Water at the River of Hell [View all]

[MRubio]

Luzmery* puts a casserole over her head before talking. She says it’s “to protect my identity because colectivos might come after me later.” She’s had no water since Thursday, March 7th, when the blackout, ongoing in some states, started. She stands in line with an empty bucket, to collect water from “a spring” at the Guaire’s banks.

The inhabitants of San Agustin and Puente Hierro, right in downtown Caracas, had been at it since early in the morning. “We can’t cook, we can’t bathe, we just can’t,” says Heberto*, another local who has been kind of overseeing the operation. Hundreds have come down from one of the poorest communities in the capital, chasing the vital liquid. When they saw the pipes were flowing, word spread fast. A queue appeared in less than half an hour.

There are two pipes in the area. The one at the north bank brings barely a trickle of Ávila water. There, Luzmery waits with her bottles. She has three kids and needs to cook. She’s quite clear about who’s responsible. “This is President Maduro’s fault, what we’re suffering. Water, water! And hunger,” she yells to the camera, before turning to check if the bucket’s full.

https://www.caracaschronicles.com/2019/03/12/getting-water-at-the-river-of-hell/

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Just another day in the People's Socialist Paradise of Venezuela