What if you run out of oil?
This is the chilling story of the oil strike in Venezuela, an account of what they endured Venezuelans in late 2002 and early 2003, and led a 2-month halt almost complete oil activities were 2 months of living hell on earth. "
Written by Vladimir, a young Venezuelan who lived the experience of what it means that a country runs out of oil. I
- The principle, nothing happens ...
In the first 3 days of the strike, the activities continued as usual, people went to work as usual. Already on Wednesday afternoon (since the strike began on Monday, December 2, 2002) were beginning to notice that the queues for fuel at service stations reached more than 200 meters. These queues
we seemed eternal. "Poor us Venezuelans, though we knew nothing of what awaited us, after all, lived in Maracaibo, the oil capital of South America and did not know what it was fuel shortages."
II-The situation gets hot ...
As of Friday, December 6, the situation had worsened, with the announcement that the merchant navy joined the strike. For that come queues at service stations reach 2 km away in the main cities. People do not talk about because they simply were dry, the government diverted the fuel to the main cities, in order to avoid riots and looting (policy that worked until the situation became more serious). Already
December 15, levels of food were running low on deposit. There being no fuel, no transport is therefore no production of both raw materials and processed products.
queues for fuel both in Caracas as in Maracaibo reached record figures of 20 km, as was the rest of the country.
I well remember my father and I took turns to refuel at the station closest to our house. I arrived early at about 7 am to where the car in the queue (after walking 2 or 3 km) to release my father who had spent all night standing in line, informing me of the situation, usually were robbery, or fights for top spot in the queues.
Two nights before that, a tanker of 56,000 liters that was to supply the station, was assaulted by a gang of robbers and killed 2 of the escorts, which were National Guardsmen who came to guard the truck and it killed 3 soldiers who were guarding the bomb, leaving notes that none of the National Guards and soldiers were defenseless, carrying fuses FNFAL
Fortunately for us the thousands of people were queuing could not take the tanker.
In short, things like that was the one that haunted him while queuing for hours, stuck in a car listening to the radio news about the chaos caused by the socio-political instability that the country lived in my case tinged with concern to my completing my university studies were now hanging by a thread, given the uncertainty of the situation out of control and put the opposing sides take the path of armed violence, and decided to sabotage the PDVSA over, all that goes through the minds of those who were there lining .
usually within hours of noon, he took a sandwich to alleviate hunger evil wrapped in a bag that had carried with me as I prepared psychologically to face the day.
always came a tanker and began to ship, but the joy is vanishing as they passed the first 100 cars (trucks, vans, buses and cars) and all fuel consumed,
III-Things can not get worse ...
That was the situation during the second and third week of December 2002, from there the situation worsened.
spent 5 days and nothing to get fuel (because the government turned the little fuel left to public transportation), people abandoned cars left and went home frustrated, to face another major problem: the lack food and lack of gas for domestic use.
Most people had made purchases nerve with the resources they had available before December 2 and in the early days of the crisis, but as he approached the first week of January pantries began to fall dangerously to the point that nothing else remained for a week or two servings per end (and that those who had some extra cash to weather the storm.
low class people, and informal trade of sector workers were in purgatory, since it is people with very low incomes who need the daily movement of money to survive, since they have no pensions or social insurance, or subsidies, for they are the most sensitive sector any changes in the economy and the market), this situation of shortage of essential items unleashed a wave of massive looting. Both
Caracas (where the capital more of approximately 6 million inhabitants, of whom 60% live in the surrounding neighborhoods in a state of extreme poverty which are known as slums, 20% lower-middle class, and 20% of upper class) and in the east of the country (very economically depressed states, which live only on tourism, and most recently the reopening oil), left a large number of victims, but that did not lead to anything, because the stores and supermarkets were empty, that was a huge loss of facilities and arson everywhere, but the famine continued and there were no solutions for now. Maracaibo
The situation was similar, with a population of over 3 million, were looted some supermarkets and shopping malls but the very fact they were empty, strangely the government and the media who were also competing at the time, agreed to censor information about the looting, all with order "not to incite looting."
All this accompanied by the drama of how to cook food, Maracaibo has a network of gas for domestic use installed on most of the city, as well as companies that provide distribution service in containers those who prefer that service or simply living area not covered by the gas, as the case of where I live with my family. To
the last week of December we were cooking with charcoal or firewood that we had bought weeks before the strike, to consume perishable foods that require refrigeration as they are already widespread power outages were also not to fall back on canned foods, keeping them as a last resort if the situation is prolonged.
IV-We ran out of light ...
Electrical energy was strangely stand until the first week of January began the great darkness in various regions of the country for three weeks, and remains with blackouts, because the gas was scarce. Fortunately for those
states that were supplied by the Guri hydroelectric complex (which generates about 60% more electricity we consume) was running at full capacity, and with the proviso that consumption had fallen sharply due to the inactivity of the industrial sector and business because of the strike, they had no major problems.
All this chaos was unchanged in the first 3 weeks of January, the government adopted a policy of purchasing food abroad (thanks to the foresight of maintaining high government coffers) to try to mitigate the large domestic shortage rationing in the neighborhoods.
V-Making money shortage ...
This shortage situation had also created discomfort in the border authorities of both Colombia and Brazil, because organized crime was taking out dividends to the smuggling of food and fuel with Venezuela (creating your look. Shortages in both Colombia and Brazil ), to collect the gas almost four times more expensive than international price, in a country where petrol has always been subsidized.
addition to this, to complete, the smuggler and Bolívar were not accepting the payment as currency, because the central banks of Colombia and Brazilian authorities have banned local commercial transactions in that currency, because he had suffered many maxi-devaluations and no one knew for sure what his real value.
All this happened in parallel with a political war for the "central government control" being waged in the streets and in the oil fields, with a number of dead and wounded, in the midst of apocalyptic chaos (which although not the end of the world, closely resembles), which came to an end with the mass layoff of 20,000 employees from the payroll of PDVSA (50% of payroll), the total bankruptcy of more than 55% of the industrial park and commercial country, and the acceptance of the national government for conducting a referendum, which took place on August 15, 2004. Even after the end
of the strike, the situation remained the same, still LF queues in service stations, people standing in long lines for gas containers for cooking, power outages continue to this day, no longer due to lack of fuel if the collapse of the system (as further evidence of the disaster on a global scale we are addressing.)
The shortages in staples like food and medicine were slowly diminishing, but returned 3 or 4 times more expensive than what they did before.
was implanted exchange controls because the dollar jump from 1600 to 1900 Bs Bs in the official rate, but the dollar hit the road to the 3000 Bs 3500 and remains there after 2 years, fortunately, the national government implemented a price control on essential items allowed to weather the situation without the outbreak of a new roll in a country already in itself divided.
The situation stabilized after 2 months, but the consequences affect up to our days, and there must be a genius to realize that as that the world energy situation begins to deteriorate within a few years, began to prevail the policy of "every man for himself."
Those who are going to take the brunt are those who live in countries with natural resources because we will (and already we are, and have been) targets of international intrigue.
VI-Making a few thoughts ...
What strikes me most is seeing the energy situation in this world, especially after the trauma experienced in 2002, and most of my countrymen (I added too) think If modern civilization has come to an end at once and do not like doing it, and to that end we have seen, and do not want to see him again.
The worst part is that what we experience here in Venezuela could have been worse. Now that will be when oil shortages begin to generalize in the world?, and has no one to buy, not smuggled as happened in Venezuela since that smuggling is not, who did not ask for help, what else can wait for our civilization in this situation.
From the above recount there are more things that happened but I do not remember, this narrative of my experience was inspired by an article in a Web page of a news channel in my country, speaking on the decline Production of Natural Gas in the Maracaibo Lake basin which supplies the whole western country and no longer meets the demand of the market so we are buying gas and Colombia.
One more example of that horse called black oil, which rides on our civilization and siblings of non-renewable energy sources, are already old and may die of heart attack and not old.
in all it was Christmas, New Year and my birthday, but I've had dark, with a sword of Damocles hanging over our heads to know that it was very likely that we play, to start killing each other when hunger began to take its toll, having to kill for a simple bite to eat.
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