For a week, a massive wildfire has caused serious damage in Canaima National Park. This recent photograph from the newspaper Correo del Caroní shows how the fire has now reached the Auyán-tepui. The news report indicate authorities on the ground lack the elements needed to fight it and the Venezuelan air force doesn’t have in…
The ocelot (commonly known around here as cunaguaro) is a wild cat that can be found on Central and South America. It’s considered to be an endangered species and some of them are now found in places like El Pinar Zoo in Caracas. On the morning of January 27th, there were reports on the press…
Earlier this year, we reported on Lake Valencia’s rising waters, which by some estimates could flood parts of South Maracay by August. Now we’re in the end of such month and the zone is still close to disaster according to this video from earlier this week: That’s the protection levee located in Mata Redonda, one of the…
Days before the explosion of Amuay, Paraguana and other parts of Falcon State had been suffering some prolonged blackouts. CORPOELEC didn’t point to an animal this time, they simply refused to provide any reason at all. The main source of electricity for the area is the Josefa Camejo Thermoelectric Plant, located right near Amuay. The plant went…
The sprawling farce that is the Las Cristinas gold mine sunk to a new low yesterday, as Rusoro, the Russian firm that had been brought in to take over the mine from the Canadian firm that filed for arbitration after it had been brought in to take over from the other Canadian firm that had filed…
Last week in Rio, the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (a follow-up to the historical Earth Summit of 20 years ago) went through without attracting the same attention of its predecessor. Few top world leaders attended and the final document left almost everyone unsatisfied. Hugo Chávez was resigned to stay home this time, so he…
People living in Caracas face multiple struggles in their everyday lives. Now, they can add one more: Breathing. Suddenly, concrete plants, spreading all over the city. According to some estimates, between six and ten concrete plants are now active inside the Caracas metropolitan area. The construction boom, driven mostly by the government’s big new housing program, which…
All through the last 13 years, I’d had this – in retrospect, rather complacent – feeling that, try as they might, chavismo would never be able to ruin the very best part of Venezuela: the knee-weakeningly beautiful Canaima National Park. Turns out I was wrong. Fuel shortages have brought tourism operators to a grinding halt…
We’re now on week four or five of a relentless national debate about drinking water quality in Venezuela. Everybody, but everybody, has heard the stories about drinking water being unsafe not only in Monagas but throughout the Lago de Valencia watershed. Now, ask yourself this: Can you describe what, specifically, is wrong with the water in…
Two neighbourhoods in Maracay, La Punta and Mata Redonda, are under constant threat of flooding due to the fast rising water levels of Valencia Lake. The folk who live there went to the Supreme Tribunal to appeal against an eviction order, and they won. However, the government refuses to comply with the compensation awarded in the decision and the…
It has been a rough time for PDVSA in Anzoátegui. Last week’s oil spill in the refinery of Jose, near Puerto La Cruz, is the latest in a series of similar events since 2011. While the Environment Minister has called some of these cases sabotage, there’s one case of PDVSA mismanagement in plain sight: the…
The February 4th oil spill in the Guarapiche river in Monagas State is an enviromental disaster that has put the water supply of Maturín at risk. While PDVSA keeps saying the situation is under control, the real extent of the damage has started to show. The main issue is whether the river water is apt for consumption. A…
In this video clip, Alí Rodríguez waxes self-righteous about Venezuela’s deeply ethical commitment to fighting climate change in the process of…announcing a plan to force every public office to run off of a diesel generator for several hours a day. En serio, ue’ón! ps: that photo they placed where Bolívar used to hang out is seriously, seriously…
A few years ago, Hugo Chávez famously claimed that George W. Bush had left the podium of the UN “reeking of sulphur.” He should know about that. Turns out, Venezuela ranks 99 out of 100 countries in terms of sulphur content in its gasoline. The maximum allowable sulfur dioxide content in our gasoline is 1,000…
Brilliant stuff. Here is the original source. Notice how Venezuela has the largest per capita carbon emissions in South America. Notice, also, that two of the disproportionately high-emissions places, the US Virgin Islands and the Netherlands Antilles, are probably ranked that high because of PDVSA’s oil refineries there. It is a well-known fact that oil…
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