Friday 23 October 2009

How Venezuelans enjoy jacuzzi

Most Venezuelans - I don't mean the wealthiest 15% - have a very simple shower with no heater whatsoever. It helps Venezuela (generally speaking) is a warm place. A large part of the poorest - several million - don't even have running water. They have a plastic tank they need to fill in with water from lorries or from a water pipe at walking distance. They use a little bowl to wash themselves or they use very primitive "showers" which they regulate with a string, very much like Robinson Crusoe would. There are big problems with water delivery, so many families in the slums share their water with their neighbours in need.

I have been to houses of very poor, poor, middle class, upper middle class and a couple of very rich people in Venezuela. I have only once seen one bath tube in Venezuela. Even the wealthy use mostly showers (bathing is not seen as real cleaning). It is not like Europe or North America.

Here you see a picture of one of the best houses in one of the many slums you will see in Venezuela (thanks to Ow, who has lived for quite some time there):
















Since the current government took total control of water and electricity companies there have been more and more problems with those services. There are huge problems with electric installations because of the frequent blackouts and sudden surges in energy. This has led to collapse of traffic light signals, to huge losses in all kind of factores and in all households. Your TV has a shorter life time in Venezuela due to that.

Now our president has some solutions:

1) hire an airplane to shoot lasers at clouds to make rain
and
2) keep shower time limited to 3 minutes only and please, don't wait for the hot water or use the jacuzzi. He said "in our communism" (those were his words) the conditions are not given for that.

I am no lefty, but there is neither communism nor socialism in Venezuela. A minister's brother can become billionaire in just 5 to 6 years of murky businesses and the poor don't have running water and are constantly afraid of being shot in the country with the highest murder rate of South America.

The most shocking thing is that Venezuela could be exporting electric energy and it still has plenty of water. Venezuelans are in general a population with little environmental conscience but what we really need now is proper management. Telling average Venezuelans not to use the jacuzzi or too much hot water is not real. Our "socialist president" should get out of his Palace and trendy European hotels and visit the people. There is definitely a huge difference between The People (i.e. the president) and the people who don't even have running water.













1 comment:

  1. I just read that Venezuelans agree with you and Electric Workers kicked out their own bureaucratic managers because they obstructed real work and opposed any kind of reforms.

    Seems like the problems are at more than just one place.

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