Far from the anarchy that was intended to create in the country with the attack on the national electricity system, in Venezuela emerged the solidarity of the people during the blackout registered since last March 7; the neighbors helped each other, thus demonstrating their love for each other, this was confirmed by Manuel Daboin, who helped organize the neighbors of his building to get water out of the tank, since they did not have the effect of the power outage.

    «There was more interaction with the neighbors, as we organized and planned to fetch water from the building’s tank. I helped bring the water tobos to every apartment in the building where I live. In my house we agreed to limit water use to the highest priority,» said Daboin, who also said he stayed in his house for the duration of the power outage.

Regarding the food supply, Daboin said they had no major problems because they had food at home. «Thank God we had enough food to last those days,» said Daboin, who lives in the Altagracia parish, west of Caracas. Meanwhile, José Quiroga said they asked for food from nearby grocery stores.





    «The day after the blackout, on Saturday, March 9, we took advantage of daylight and went to a business we know, near the house, to buy food. As the person in charge knows us, we remembered that we would pay him later, while the emergency happened,» said Quiroga, who lives in Bella Vista, southwest of Caracas.

He added that when the lights went out and the hours passed, he felt fear and concern within his family and neighbors because he felt an atmosphere of warlike confrontation.

    «There were worried neighbors. We were in a state of war and we didn’t know anything. We said, the gringos are coming to invade us. Thank God there was a conscience within the community. There was a lot of awareness,» Quiroga said.

But that feeling of uncertainty in the Quiroga community did not prevent them from organizing and grouping together to guard the area where they live, because there were unscrupulous people who wanted to loot or steal, they could not do it because there were also Bolivarian National Guard officers patrolling, he said.

He said that during the days of the blackout he was unable to communicate with family members who live in other parts of the city. «We had all our phones unloaded, we were caught unprepared,» Quiroga said. While Quiroga was incommunicado, Milagros Raquena did have his cell phone charged, which allowed him to give birth in the dark.

    «The first thing I did was to embrace serenity in order to have the capacity to accept, tolerate, and face what was happening. That of course was the first day. I remember it was about 5:30pm when the blackout occurred. I was protected by prevention at home. At nightfall, I didn’t need a candle, I still had my phone charged and I used the telephone flashlight,» said Requena, who lives in San Agustín Norte, in Caracas.

Arriving in daylight on Saturday, March 9, Requena says he went to trot to Los Caobos to spend the day. When she returned to her building, she learned that they had spare water; thanks to that, she was able to supply her apartment and help the elderly.

    «When I returned to the building, I dedicated myself to helping grandparents and children carry water. We were carrying water from the ground floor. Most of these people lived on the 12th, 14th, 16th and 18th floors of the building. I had to raise the water tobos for my grandparents. I felt like a gladiator helping the neighbors,» Requena said.

She helped herself with reading and sports, so the days flowed for Requena, who bought tangerines, cambur, bananas to feed herself. In addition, she had a gas stove and food products from the basic basket delivered by the Local Food and Production Committee (CLAP), this allowed her to eat without problems during the days of the blackout.





While Requena was grateful for having food in her home, José Luis Tovar related that when the blackout occurred, the inhabitants of the popular sector, where she lives, took the situation calmly, without any novelty.

    «Well, we helped our devices with the vehicles. The telecommunications went uphill…a few days before we had brought gas to the community, that allowed us to cook…We had solidarity support from the community,» said Tovar, who lives in La Pastora.

Tovar tells how they created lighters with diesel oil in beer bottles.

This type of lighting was also used by Nelly Campos, who had in her home in El Valle several liters of fuel that she used to create a kind of handcrafted lamps.

    «I grabbed mayonnaise containers, beer bottles and cut old clothes to make the lighters. At first it took me a while to turn them on, they go out, but in the end I did it. That’s how we lit up in my house on the days when we had no light. When I saw what we did some neighbors came, I gave them fuel and with what we had on hand we made lights for each house and people were grateful for that help. Other families on the block made their lamps with oil and water. So we spent three days until the light arrived, thank God,» commented Campos, from the San Andrés.

Campos commented that in his home they have cylinder gas, which allowed them to cook without problems. «We also had some Clap products left and we had some cash to buy what we lacked; because I sell ice cream in the house, and with that I was able to buy a little food, every day, so that we will not be lost,» Campos said.





Although she couldn’t buy food like the young Campos, the social fighter Nelsón Peralta was able to share some of her food with the neighbors.

    «The experience was a little more bearable thanks to the company of the neighbors, since I was able to get to know them a little more, neighbors whose faces I almost never see. We exchanged ideas and we were even able to share part of our food; drinking water, rice, flour, pasta among other things,» said Peralta from his home located in Guarenas, Miranda state.

When the blackout occurred, Peralta was at his place of work. Upon leaving, it was found that the private buses took advantage of the circumstance.

    «To be able to move to my residence it was an odyssey, since there was no lack of those who take advantage of difficult situations to make a profit through the payment of the fare; but well, once in my residence I thought of an immediate solution to move forward with my family. We had to use more than anything the inventiveness that runs through our veins, since our grandparents taught us how to be without light and we invented alternative candles and candelabras made of oils or kerosene, substances that many Venezuelan households frequently find. From then on, the experience was a little more bearable,» Peralta said.

But not everything happened as you want. To Venezuelan Eizel Guariguata, because she suffered needs during the blackout.

«We don’t have neighbors; but the nuns from the front school gave us water from their tank, the girls made in their little girls’ cup and we adults in pote the urine and so on in a bag until we ran out. We put the used water in the bathroom. The baby’s diapers are made of cloth and I ran out of clean rags, thank God I still had two disposable diapers and then my sister-in-law went to Caricuao to her mother’s house. We ate twice a day to give up the food, since we didn’t have cash and we had to change two kilos of rice for bananas, and another for a few pineapples to be able to eat something else,» said Guariguata, who lives in Antimano, west of Caracas.

Although some families suffered problems like Guariguata, in other parts of the country, the Venezuelan people also behaved in solidarity with their compatriots, despite being at a critical moment after the power cut.

Respondents acknowledged that they experienced a difficult situation, but stressed that peace prevailed in each community.

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