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WORLD NEWS Thursday 16 January 2020

Opposition leader Juan Guaido, center, sits with fellow
lawmakers Juan Pablo Guanipa, left, and Carlos Eduardo
Berrizbeitia as they hold a session at a theater in the El Hatillo
neighborhood after their vehicles were attacked by government
supporters while driving to the National Assembly in downtown
Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2020.
Associated Press
Government backers

Almir Vicente pushes his recently bought bottled water at a supermarket in the Copacabana block Venezuela

neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2020.
Associated Press legislative meeting
Smelly Rio de Janeiro water By FABIOLA SÁNCHEZ and other lawmakers at a the-

supply has residents on edge SCOTT SMITH ater in the Caracas suburb
of El Hatillo.
Associated Press
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) "Today, we clearly reject
— Government security before the world this at-
By DAVID BILLER and DIANE JEANTET incidence of symptoms with contaminat- forces and armed motor- tack, this ambush against
Associated Press ed water, particularly after holiday season cycle groups loyal to Vene- the Federal Palace,"
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — There's a creeping parties, the state health secretariat said in zuela's president forcefully Guaidó said, referring to
sense of alarm in Rio de Janeiro after more an emailed statement. blocked opposition law- the legislative building. "The
than a week of foul tasting and smelling Rio Gov. Wilson Witzel's patience has worn makers from entering the dictatorship has clearly ex-
tap water in dozens of neighborhoods. Ru- thin; On Tuesday night he called for analy- National Assembly building posed itself to the world."
mors are flying, and residents are hoarding sis of the water's quality as well as of the Wednesday, prompting The incident was part of a
bottled water. utility's management. them to hold their session struggle for control of the
People in the metropolitan area have "The disorder the population has been on the outskirts of the crisis- opposition-dominated Na-
taken to social media to show glasses of suffering due to the problem with water torn nation's capital. tional Assembly and Vene-
water that appears reddish or brownish. provided by Cedae is inadmissible," Witzel It's the second time this zuela as a whole, a nation
Several supermarkets visited by the Associ- said on Twitter. "The company must accel- month that lawmakers suffering economic and so-
ated Press on Wednesday had run out of erate its ultimate solution to improve wa- have been barred from the cial collapse that's led an
bottled water. ter quality and sewage treatment in cities building that houses the estimated 4.5 million to em-
There have been rumors — denied by offi- near the springs. The consumer cannot be only branch of government igrate. A once oil-wealthy
cials — that the state water utility, Cedae, harmed." that remains out of control nation, Venezuela has
would cut off supply of water to millions of Maurício Oliveira da Silva, a 51-year-old of President Nicolás Madu- been locked in a political,
residents, or that tests have determined resident of Complexo de Alemao, a group ro's socialist government. economic and social col-
the water unfit for consumption. of slums in Rio's north zone, said colored Attempting to reach the lapse for the last five years.
Mariana Bretas, 29, received a viral text water had been coming out of the tap for legislative chamber, the Basic medicines, food and
message saying people must plug their several days until it improved on Wednes- caravan of cars carry- gasoline are scarce, de-
ears with cotton when showering. day. Still, he accused the government of ing the deputies dodged spite the fact Venezuela
"I don't know if it's true, but we're getting lack of interest in some of the state's most through downtown streets, sits atop the world's largest
scared," Bretas said after buying five liters desolate areas. but ultimately failed. oil reserves. The 36-year-
of water. "We feel abandoned," da Silva said, add- Gunshots could be heard old Guaidó leaped onto
Cedae has said the peculiar water is due ing that poorer folks like himself couldn't near the cars, but no in- Venezuela's political stage
to geosmin, an organic compound that afford to buy gallons of bottled water. "We juries were reported. Two a year ago when he de-
is innocuous, and that the water meets feel powerless." SUV's carrying the lawmak- clared himself acting presi-
health ministry requirements. Even so, it As for the water's color, Cedae officials ers came under attack dent under the constitution
said it will begin using powdered acti- on Wednesday attributed it to the piping by people on the street and vowed to end Madu-
vated carbon at the start of treatment to systems of individual homes, something for dressed in civilian clothes. ro's rule. The United States
curb geosmin. which the company can't be held respon- They struck the rear win- and more than 50 other na-
At a press conference on Wednesday, Ce- sible. dow of one, shattering it. tions quickly backed him,
dae officials reiterated that geosmin was "In my house, I always drink Cedae's wa- Guaidó called it an "am- saying Maduro's reelection
the cause of the smell and taste, and in- ter," the company's president Helio Cabral bush" carried out by the in 2018 was illegitimate.
sisted there was "nothing alarming" about assured journalists. military and paramilitary Guaidó was also blocked
its levels in the city's water reserves. Cabral denied media reports that the groups armed by a "brutal from the National Assembly
The number of cases of diarrhea, gastro- head of the water treatment station that and wild" dictatorship. building early this month
enteritis and vomiting in two health clinics provides water to Rio's Baixada Flumi- Guaidó was not in the car- in a failed government at-
of Rio's west zone doubled between Dec. nense area had been dismissed. It said avan that attempted to tempt to prevent him from
20 and Jan. 5 over the same period last he'd merely changed departments under enter the legislative build- being reelected as the
year, but it's too early to associate higher a previously scheduled move.q ing, but later emerged with body's leader. q