#AlaCalleContraLaScuridad: Venezuelans parade against Nicolás Maduro's regime on the fifth day of the blackout

Venezuelan opponents, summoned by their leader, Juan Guaidó, will demonstrate in the afternoon of Tuesday against President Nicolás Maduro, on the fifth day of a breakdown that plunged the whole country into darkness and mortify the population without water and food.

"I call all Venezuelans to take the streets and avenues closest to us.The cessation of the usurpation will depend on our mbadive and organized mobilization in the streets," Guaidó said., recognized parliamentary leader as interim president of Venezuela by more than 50 countries led by the United States.

The emergency, the worst power cut that affects this country of 30 million inhabitants, maintains intermittent service in several areas, although there are areas of the city. interior without electricity since last Thursday.

The situation tends to become more tense. Some looting was recorded in Maracaibo (north-west) and isolated in Caracas. Last weekend, AFP observed a group of armed civilians on motorbikes east of the capital.

Maduro began distributing food, water and badistance to hospitals, where, according to Guaidó, about twenty people have died, while the NGO Codevida says that 15 patients with kidney disease are died for lack of dialysis. The government says that there are no casualties.

"I heard a shooting concert, they looted a bakery and then they stole rubbers (tires), I saw people line up to get a kilogram of rice and the distributors pulled in air to organize the lines AFP Alberto Barboza, 26, in Maracaibo, an oil city.

The power outage has caused the collapse of the water supply, already deficient in itself, because the pumps of the tanks require energy to operate. Faced with this, many are trying to stock up in supermarkets or natural sources.

Some people have no choice but to pay in dollars for water or food. In a country where financial resources are insufficient, the smallest purchase is paid with datapones, out of service because of the power failure.

Guaidó, who called for his release Tuesday, will chair a congressional session by an opposition majority over "the grave violation of human rights by the regime", after having spoken with a UN mission that met Monday with Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza.

Maduro blames the power outage on a US "cyberattack" against the El Guri hydropower plant (Bolívar, on) and the opposition, which in turn attributes the crisis to the government's "negligence and corruption". The dam is militarized, said an AFP aide.

Before the prolongation of the crisis, the government again extended until Tuesday the suspension of working hours and hours of students that had been ordered Thursday.

In the decree, the opposition asked the army to "refrain from" demonstrations and demanded "the immediate suspension" of the release of oil in Cuba in order avoid a shortage of gasoline in the country, where there are already long queues at the service stations. in fear that it will run out.

But the implementation of the decree is unlikely, as Maduro enjoys the support of the armed forces and, with the exception of Congress, controls all institutions.

Maduro said Monday night that behind the blackout was a Guaidó strategy aimed at reactivating the entry of "humanitarian aid" from the United States that had failed Feb. 23 and warranted a US military invasion.