Venezuela's daily blackouts push residents to the streets

In Venezuela's Aragua state, just outside Caracas, daily life now revolves around an unreliable electricity grid. Homes sit in darkness for hours, and businesses struggle to function as outages stretch through the working day.

Izamala Rivera, a former lawyer who now cares for her mother with Alzheimer's and looks after pets for income, says the situation has worsened this year. "The heat has been unbearable, the electrical service is immensely poor," she said, noting that her refrigerator and microwave have been damaged by the erratic supply. When power briefly returned during an interview, she expressed a mix of relief and frustration: "We get excited when power comes back, because we can get a little bit of freshness and do our things."

Workplaces are equally affected. Roxana Paez, a stylist, described a typical day: "We open at 9 am and close at 5 pm. Power gets cut off at 10 am and then returns at 4 pm. It's the entire day of work without electricity." She says she often works in the dark with wireless tools until their batteries die.

The outages have also disrupted water supply in some areas and are taking a mental toll. "We're feeling a bit worn down mentally," Rivera admitted.

The renewed frustration comes amid a turbulent political year, following the U.S. capture of Nicolás Maduro in January. Acting President Delcy Rodríguez's government has launched an energy-saving plan, citing record demand of 15,726 megawatts—the highest in eight years—and the possible effects of a climate phenomenon it calls "Súper Niño." Officials have also announced efforts to strengthen the grid, including an agreement with IMPSA to resume work on delayed hydroelectric plants.

But patience is running thin. In the town of San Mateo, residents have organized nightly protests over the past month, banging pots and marching through the streets. Teacher Ninoska Barceló, who has been documenting the demonstrations, said: "We have waited 27 years. We can keep doing it but with hope that it will mean improvements for the citizen." Another protester asked, "Why should we passively wait and let the same thing happen everyday? No! If they don't want to listen to us, let ourselves be heard!"