In recent days, this country has certainly seen a shift in power of almost unbelievable proportions. But, half a world away, Venezuela's controversial President Hugo Chavez has a power problem all of his own of a very different nature. Here's David O'Shea.
REPORTER: David O’Shea
Today is Venezuela’s bicentenary and it seems like half the country is rushing to see the parade and celebrate their leader, Hugo Chavez and his brand of socialist revolution.
OFFICIAL (Translation): Calm down! We won’t get very far like this. Let’s behave. That’s enough. Let’s all calm down. Quiet!
Quite a squeeze through there - this is obviously the place to be today. President Chavez is in his element – once again, he’s the centre of attention. This is a showcase of his country's diversity – its indigenous tribes and regional cultures. But Venezuela is an increasingly militarised society - even the farmers are armed.
COMMENTATOR (Translation): Thanks to the revolution, the National Guard is now in the hearts of the Venezuelan people.
There are so many different military forces at Chavez’s disposal – the parade seems endless. And although they’re not marching here today - Chavez has recently armed a 30,000-strong civilian militia. Venezuela! Venezuela! He told them there were plots to kill him, and if it happened - they would know what to do. The message here today is crystal clear - both to his enemies abroad and his opponents at home. In the stands, Cuba's President Raul Castro would certainly approve. Chavez, Socialist, Motherland or death! It leaves the President's political opponents like Dr Douglas Leon very worried.
DR DOUGLAS LEON (Translation): He's a military man through and through. He doesn't believe in anything but himself. He's an egomaniac. He invented something called 21st-Century Socialism that I don't think even he understands. He’s not a communist or a socialist. He’s just an egotistical militaristic totalitarian, who thinks he’s the only one who can lead Venezuela. Any democratic Venezuelan could lead us better than Chavez.
Dr Leon represents a growing discontent amongst ordinary Venezuelans - who are living with a crippling power crisis and rolling blackouts. Venezuela relies almost solely on hydro power for electricity so I'm travelling to a key hydroelectric plant in the west of the country - to see what's really behind this problem. En route - an accident has blocked the road and people waiting for it to clear have one thing on their minds – the blackouts.
WOMAN (Translation): Sometimes there’s no warning. They used to have a rationing plan but not now. Sometimes it goes off five times in a day and with no warning. So we can’t do anything. If anything gets zapped, you have to fix it yourself. We are feeling pretty hopeless.
WOMAN 2: The service is deteriorating. It’s terrible. We’re going from bad to worse. Our appliances get damaged. Everything gets ruined. There’s nothing good here.
They tell me on top of the electricity crisis there have been shortages of water, fuel and food.
WOMAN (Translation): We are going to the dogs.
REPORTER (Translation): Pardon?
WOMAN (Translation): We have no water, no electricity, no security, nothing. There’s no life, no work. We’re all struggling.
Back on the road there are still hours till we reach the power station. Well, we finally arrived at the hydroelectric plant and wouldn't you know it - there’s a blackout. So here we are waiting for the lights to come back on. Apparently every night, for a couple of hours, they go off, and it is not a great sign that in a place that is supposed to be producing the electricity - they are also suffering these power cuts. In daylight, it's clear the dam’s water level is very low. The government says the worst drought in recorded history is causing the power cuts.
A group of company employees take me on a tour. This valley and a village called Potosi were flooded in 1984 to make way for the hydroelectric scheme. When the dam was full – all you could see was the cross on the church spire. But now the water has dropped to such critical levels - the entire village has been exposed again.
JUAN CARLOS CASSANOVA (Translation): We’re on the main road of the village.
665 people once lived here – some of whom came back recently and held prayers again at the church. While it makes for a lovely historical tour - at the business end of the dam - the lack of rain is a serious issue.
RAFAEL DIAZ (Translation): In the month of September, August, September, the level dropped as never before, and you can see, that the dam level became critical. If we’d continued as before were, the plant would have stopped completely.
Despite what plant officials and the government say there's a chorus of critics like sociologist Luis Pedro Espana who say it's obvious that drought is not the only cause of this crisis.
LUIS PEDRO ESPANA (Translation): You don’t have to be a specialist. You don’t have to be an engineer or an architect. But when it takes the form of energy cuts, when it takes the form of daily rationing and blackouts, then people begin to realise that we have huge social and urban infrastructure shortfalls, and that the government over 10 years has done nothing about them because it had other priorities.
Today in a poor suburb in the capital Caracas, they're handing out energy-saving light bulbs. As well as being a good, green initiative, it may well be a form of political insurance for President Chavez.
REPORTER (Translation): You won't solve the problem by changing a few light bulbs.
MAN (Translation): But we're contributing to saving energy. Our message is completely different. Before it was "Increase consumption to boost profits." Not any more. We encourage people to save energy.
As the costs of power rise – so does the price of everything else, which is making life here increasingly difficult., so handing out free light bulbs – as well as reducing demand on the grid – may just keep millions of urban poor here onside. After all, they brought Chavez to power.
REPORTER (Translation): And what do you think?
MAN (Translation): It’s good.
REPORTER (Translation): All good?
MAN (Translation): We’re with the Commandante.
REPORTER (Translation): With Commander Chavez?
WOMAN (Translation): Of course! He’s gorgeous!
MAN (Translation): Yeah, he’s gorgeous.
BOTH (Translation): Gorgeous! Yes, yes.
Unlike the rest of the country there hasn't been a blackout in Caracas since February - not because of these low energy bulbs but because Chavez made sure they stopped. This chaotic city is far too volatile for blackouts and the President can't afford to lose support here, according to former government vice-minister Vladimir Villegas.
VLADIMIR VILLEGAS, FORMER GOVERNMENT VICE-MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Translation): This affected us a lot. The government reviewed that decision because the political cost was too high. It could have sparked social chaos in the city. Even the baseball broadcasts could have been affected. The rationing plan was adopted at the end of the championship. The President is a baseball fan and realises the consequences.
The power crisis is so serious that President Chavez has declared a national emergency. And he must be wondering whether it might develop into a power crisis of his own.
REPORTER (Translation): Is the energy crisis affecting Chavez’s popularity?
PEDRO LUIS ESPANA (Translation): No doubt at all, because it affects the daily life of Venezuelans. And there is no way of hiding the government’s political responsibility. They’ve been in power for almost 12 years. And everyone knows, from the most to the least educated, or the least informed, that in 12 years a dam could have been built, some hydroelectric dam or something. So the electricity problems can’t be blamed on previous governments as has been done repeatedly in the past.
President Chavez loves offering advice to his fellow countrymen. His latest was to urge them to take just 3-minute showers like he does. “I don't stink,” he said. And all around Caracas, billboards are appearing like this one offering further advice on how to conserve energy. This one reads - "Unplug the iron before you finish – it will stay hot enough." This one reads "Regulate the thermostat on your air-conditioning unit to the optimum temperature - 23 degrees." For those who don't heed his advice to cut their power consumption by 20%, there are stiff penalties to pay. To make the saving – all government offices now close for the day at 1pm. And to avoid being labelled a 'high consumer' businesses everywhere are searching for ways to save. Sex shops are switching off the neon and hairdressers are changing their ways.
HAIRDRESSER (Translation): We’re using the dryers less. We’re not using the coffee machine much and only for customers. We’re contributing by making some other savings - such as the air-conditioning - which we turn on after midday, and turn off after 6pm.
For some restaurants, it’s a difficult transition.
WAITER (Translation): That oven over there is an electric oven. It consumes a lot of power. So they’re taking steps to change it over to a gas oven.
In the family home there is often no choice. But if you don't reduce your consumption, you'll be charged double.
AIXA LOPEZ, LAWYER (Translation): I can’t change the stove because this building doesn’t have the gas connected. If there’s no gas I have to use the electric stove. For that reason I see it as punishing me heavily since I can’t reduce my usage.
Lawyer Aixa Lopez heads an association called 'Victims of the Blackouts'.
AIXA LOPEZ (Translation): Lack of maintenance is the main issue. Here, nothing is being maintained. That’s the reason for the crisis. Deprofessionalisation is a major concern. The national electricity system has been flooded with incompetent, unprofessional people and that’s another reason for this debacle.
Recent news that President Chavez has given Cuba millions of dollars to fix their electricity system has not gone down well with this group.
AIXA LOPEZ (Translation): Mr President, why do you hate us Venezuelans so much? Why? You try to solveCuba's electricity problems, you try to help Nicaragua and Bolivia with theirs, but here you punish us. Why do you hate us so much, Mr President? We demand a solution to the energy crisis and investments now, Mr President.
Aixa Lopez's anger stems from personal experience of the effects of blackouts - one of which came in the middle of one of her daughter's asthma attacks.
AIXA LOPEZ (Translation): I felt some anger. I felt panic, frustration, fear, anguish, seeing my girl crying. And I got desperate. She was two and couldn’t tell me what she had. I gave her some syrup and I have a manual ventilator that I applied, and I was able to help her through her asthma attack. That’s when I realised that these blackouts meant a deterioration of our quality of life.
REPORTER (Translation): Your mum's famous, isn’t she?
KATERIN (Translation): She’s famous. This is my mum. She says "No more blackouts."
REPORTER (Translation): Pardon?
KATERIN (Translation): She says "More blackouts." No more blackouts. That’s what my mum says.
Today, with no more blackouts on their T-shirts, the association is holding a small demonstration at the office of the ombudsman.
AIXA LOPEZ (Translation): She has the duty to ensure that public services operate well - in this case, the electricity. And in the face of this energy crisis our ombudsman hasn’t said or done anything.
The sticker they put on the wall says the office has been closed for failing in its duty of care.
SECURITY GUARD (Translation): At your service. We were established... To protect the people... And to give you good service.
The small group then heads off to the Public Prosecutors Office.
AIXA LOPEZ (Translation): We want a country where we can express ourselves freely, where our services function, and our officials fulfil their duties, as required by law. We’re protesting because they are not doing it.
They give the same speech on the steps of the building where their sticker is removed while they are still standing there. This government doesn't like criticism - something this man knows all too well. Former vice–minister for Foreign Affairs Vladimir Villegas was a Chavez true believer. But he became disillusioned with the controversial president and resigned.
VLADIMIR VILLEGAS (Translation): We believe that in some ways they’re repeating the mistakes that led to the fall of the governments of countries like - for example, the so-called Berlin Wall and the Soviet Bloc.
REPORTER (Translation): Do you think they’re similar?
VLADIMIR VILLEGAS (Translation): In some respects, such as shutting down critics, restricting debate, trying to impose a political view that monopolises society and preventing dissidents from expressing their views, especially internally. And I really think this has damaged the government, a government which we fought for, which many gave their lives for. That’s the reality.
Villegas now believes the concentration of power and decision making in one person is dangerous.
VLADIMIR VILLEGAS (Translation): Now the government excludes anyone who thinks differently, even within its own ranks, its own support base. Good afternoon. This is Vladimir Villegas.
Villegas now hosts a radio news program but says he knows from his time in government that the power crisis is due to bad management.
VLADIMIR VILLEGAS (Translation): Well, yes, that’s part of the problem. It’s not that there were no resources. Resources and money were allocated. But the necessary work was never done. The problem was management because plans were made but not implemented. That was a big mistake.
It's an important day for the anti-Chavez forces. The opposition is voting to select candidates to stand in parliamentary elections in September.
VLADIMIR VILLEGAS (Translation): It's 4.14. After the break, we will continue our coverage of the primaries taking place around the country as part of the agreement reached by the opposition coalition.
Presidential elections are not till 2012 but that's not soon enough for some.
FEMALE VOTER (Translation): The parliament consists mostly of government MPs and the government creates laws for their own benefit. So we need Opposition MPs so that things can return to normal, to the way they used to be.
Last time, the opposition boycotted the parliamentary election which allowed Chavez supporters to fill the national assembly.
FEMALE VOTER 2 (Translation): We stuffed up. It was a mistake. It’s a mistake that we have to resolve now and the only way to fix it is for us to come out to vote in huge numbers.
And it may not only be middle-class voters – like these - who reject him. Throughout my time here, people who supported Chavez 11 years ago have told me they won't be voting for him next time. So do you have a good chance today? Good chance today?
MARIA CORINA MACHADO, OPPOSITION CANDIDATE: Venezuela has a great chance today.
The opposition candidates come in various shades. Maria Corina Machado is the polar opposite of Chavez. She's from the conservative right and the President once ridiculed her for her choice of political mentor.
REPORTER: Do you think that the electricity crisis, in some way, is affecting Chavez’s popularity and giving you some kind of opportunity?
MARIA CORINA MACHADO: I believe that all of the problems that are taking place in Venezuela in service charges, electricity and water supply, the cost of living - we have the highest inflation in the whole hemisphere. The fact that it's a government that has been practising corruption throughout the different powers of the state, all this has been affecting us in a significant way - the support that President Chavez used to have.
LUIS PEDRO ESPANA (Translation): I have no doubt that in September there’s a very big chance that he’ll lose the popular vote.
REPORTER (Translation): Chavez?
LUIS PEDRO ESPANA (Translation): Yes.
If the volatile President is concerned about losing his majority, he's certainly not showing it. There are few who suggest that the right is about to return to power in Venezuela, but with the country plagued by power problems - no popular left-wing opponent has emerged either. Many people now wonder that if Chavez were to lose would he accept the people's choice?
Reporter/Camera
DAVID O’SHEA
Producer
ASHLEY SMITH