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From the South Pacific, we're taking you to South America. Last week, we reported on a rare widespread blackout in Venezuela that added to the country's economic and political problems. Electricity went out in 19 of Venezuela's 23 states.
And while the government's information minister says the outage has been completely restored, cnn teams on the ground there say this is true for a lot of the capital, Caracas, but the lights aren't on everywhere.
Another issue all this created was a water shortage. 70% of Caracas now has drinking water, and 80% of the rest of the country-- again, according to its information minister.
But while the Venezuelan government accuses the United States and Venezuela's opposition leader for trying to bring down the electrical grid, the priority for many residents is getting their taps to run clean.
PAULA NEWTON: At its worst, the blackout triggered a water crisis so severe, there was a degrading scramble for water — any water, even dirty water, whatever the drainage pipes in the stream could offer up.
The water shortage has eased up a bit, but not the indignity of finding water wherever and however you can, even coming from inside a highway tunnel and an open pipe.
I mean, look at this water. It is not clean. There is debris in the water. There is garbage. There are insects. And yet people are very desperate, and they're happy to have this water right now, telling me that they are using it for bathing and for anything else that they need to be doing. They know they can't drink it, but right now this is all they have.
(SPEAKING SPANISH)
PAULA NEWTON: It's tough, it's very tough, he tells me, we need water for everything. If we don't have water, we can't do anything. Black goop, instead of water, ran through these faucets when the power did come back on. Residents posted on social media of a water system rarely maintained or repaired.
Ana Ramirez says she's afraid that now the water system will never recover. She's done without in her tiny apartment in the barrio of Petare since the blackouts started last week. And Venezuela is still running out of water.
Unthinkable in a country once blessed with vast water resources, years of neglect and now drought have left many struggling and scavenging to get water, as it too has now become a luxury.
Paula Newton, cnn, Caracas
