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Venezuela’s electricity crisis is an existential threat to its recovery story: “While Venezuelans from non-major urban centers have been suffering from constant blackouts for years, the problem is metastasizing to all of the country. Anecdotal evidence points to daily five- to seven-hour blackouts in key cities, such as Valencia—the country’s once-thriving manufacturing hub—and nearby Maracay. Large parts of the Andean and Western regions are also repeatedly affected by inconsistent thermoelectric plant operations; citizens are voicing their discontent in massive protests, and companies reported an average of 57 unplanned outages, five a week, in the second quarter of the year. Meanwhile, oil companies seeking to expand operations will need to supply their ownelectricity for related projects, given the poor state of the generation and the distribution network.” Important piece by Francisco Morandi Luisa Palacios for AQ