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Montevideo, March 28th 2024 - 21:20 UTC

 

 

Venezuela's public sector will only work Mondays and Tuesdays for another two weeks

Monday, May 30th 2016 - 07:36 UTC
Full article 5 comments
President Maduro's administration blames the power shortage on a drought caused by the El Niño weather phenomenon President Maduro's administration blames the power shortage on a drought caused by the El Niño weather phenomenon
Erika Farias, governor of Cojedes state, said while announcing the extension of the decree by 15 days that “the rains we expected were not enough.” Erika Farias, governor of Cojedes state, said while announcing the extension of the decree by 15 days that “the rains we expected were not enough.”

Venezuela's government on Saturday extended by two weeks a decree reducing the public sector workweek to Mondays and Tuesdays in a bid to tackle the oil-rich country's electricity crisis. The enforced leave was first announced in late April, a drastic move for a government also grappling with an economic crisis that has Venezuelans queuing for hours to buy scarce supplies.

 President Nicolas Maduro's administration blames the power shortage on a drought caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon, which it says has caused water used by the country's hydroelectric plants to run low. The authorities had hoped rain would replenish reservoirs while the restrictions were in place.

Erika Farias, governor of Cojedes state, said while announcing the extension of the decree by 15 days that “the rains we expected were not enough.” Speaking at the Miraflores presidential palace in the capital Caracas, she said elementary and high school classes would continue to be canceled on Fridays under the extended decree.

The opposition, who hold a majority in the legislature, say the power shortage is the result of economic mismanagement and inefficient running of the energy network.

Faced with what Maduro says is the worst drought in 40 years, his government has also imposed a series of other measures. They include daily blackouts, shifting the country's time zone forward 30 minutes and cutting the workday for Venezuela's two million public sector employees to six hours.

Top Comments

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  • golfcronie

    Why work at all, no doubt they will be paid nevertheless work or not. Isn't it true that is the problem in Latam, no person wants to work there.

    May 30th, 2016 - 08:35 am 0
  • Tik Tok

    Meanwhile in Brazil after a new Government they are finding thousands of ghost workers who are paid but never appear, welcome to the socialist paradise....

    May 30th, 2016 - 12:50 pm 0
  • ChrisR

    Same thing in Uruguay under The Broad Fraud.

    May 30th, 2016 - 01:33 pm 0
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