Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Friday 5 april 2019
Mountain park becomes public bath amid Venezuela crisis

By FABIOLA SANCHEZ hood lost electricity.
Associated Press “It gives you the shivers,” he
CARACAS, Venezuela said of his bath in the crys-
(AP) — After generations tal-clear Chacaito stream,
of breathing life into Ven- scooping water with his
ezuela’s crowded capital, hands to rinse soap from
the tree-covered slopes of his head and body while
El Avila mountain looming standing thigh-deep. “But
above Caracas are being you have to put up to get
transformed into a public by.”
bath amid worsening pow- Nearby, a thin man wear-
er failures that are disrupt- ing jeans and a light blue
ing life in the crisis-wracked sweat shirt filled plastic bot-
country. tles with water. Then he un-
Every day, hundreds of zipped his trousers and tried
people without running to urinate unnoticed in the
water hike up from the city stream.
on Avila’s winding trails Wildfires that have hit the
to bathe, wash clothes park lately and the influx
and collect water to carry of people have put the
home. To the dismay of en- mountain in a “high risk”
vironmental activists who situation, said José Manuel
fear the damage will be Silva, director of Venezuela
irreversible, people are lit- Angel Sanchez bathes in one of the streams that comes down from El Avila National Park, during Verde, a charity dedicated
tering its slopes and creeks interruptions in running water in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, April 3, 2019. to environmental protec-
with shampoo and water Associated Press tion.
bottles, food wrappers, nearly a month earlier. The nationwide blackout, the park is home to dozens But there is little that can be
cardboard and old clothes. “I never would have imag- and others that have fol- of birds and other species, done to protect the park
Wildfires in recent weeks ined doing this here,” Es- lowed, comes as President such as opossums, bats, amid Venezuela’s eco-
that charred swaths of the calante said while soaking Nicolas Maduro and oppo- squirrels, pumas, foxes, por- nomic crunch, he said. He
drought-stricken mountain a shirt in a bucket of stream sition leader Juan Guaidó cupines and deer. noted that state agencies
have compounded the water and detergent after struggle over power. The The wildlife relies on its pris- have had to dramatically
damage, threatening to scrubbing it on a rock. “We opposition, which blames tine brooks and creeks for reduce numbers of park
leave long-term environ- have the government to Venezuela’s economic col- water and the animals put rangers and firefighters.
mental scars on the land thank for this.” lapse on mismanagement their nests and burrows And, he added, it’s impossi-
declared a national park Residents of Caracas have and damaging policies by amid the vast stretch of ble to stop the influx of peo-
six decades ago. been crowding waterways the socialist government, is trees and shrubs that is now ple searching for water — a
School bus driver Gorge Eg- in the park of 315 square trying to oust Maduro with being invaded by humans. basic human necessity.
lis Escalante and his teen- miles (81,800 hectares) ev- backing from the United Liquor store clerk Jona- Doing rounds at Avila, a
age daughter dragged a ery day since Venezuela’s States and some 50 other than Lopez said he began National Parks Institute of-
pink basket of dirty clothes power grid failed March 7, nations. visiting Avila at dawn two ficial said authorities are
to a secluded spot recent- knocking out lights as well Officially given the indig- weeks ago to bathe and aware of the trash piling
ly. Spigots in their Chacai- as the pumps that move enous name “Waraira Rep- collect water after his poor up and the environmental
to neighborhood ran dry water to homes. ano,” or “Sierra Grande,” 23rd of January neighbor- damage.q

Cuba reduces newspaper length due to paper shortage

By MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN a wide range of imported shortage of hard currency.
Associated Press products. The government does not
HAVANA (AP) — The Cu- While the government has release much basic eco-
ban government says a recently allowed much nomic information, but
newsprint shortage is forc- more fluid access to the gross domestic product
ing at least six state-run internet and mobile data growth has largely been
newspapers to cut back on services, most Cubans still flat since 2016, due in large
pages and circulation days receive news from broad- part due to the economic
in a potent sign of the cash cast media and print news- free-fall of Venezuela, Cu-
shortage confronting the papers. ba’s closest ally and source
island. The last major cutback in of highly subsidized petro-
The newspaper Granma newsprint was during the leum for nearly two de-
said in Thursday editions “special period” of short- cades.
that the Cuban Communist ages and hardships that Observers say the slow-
Party organ and several followed the fall of the So- moving diversification of
other papers are cutting In this Feb. 3, 2015 file photo, a man reads a copy of the official viet Union. Cuba today Cuba’s economy, with a
back from 16 to eight pag- newspaper of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist appears far from a new tourist sector that drew 4.7
es on Wednesdays and Fri- Party, Granma, as a woman walks past, in old Havana. “special period” but the million visitors last year, bil-
days. The changes take ef- Associated Press island has been suffering lions in remittances from
fect Friday. The newspaper Granma attributed the imported newsprint from increasingly frequent and abroad and direct flights to
of the Communist Youth change to “difficulties in China in recent years and long-lasting shortages of countries around the world,
League, Juventud Rebel- the availability of newsprint the government has been basic products including offers some degree of pro-
de, will stop publishing on in the country,” without suffering cash-flow prob- flour, cooking oil, chicken tection from severe eco-
Saturdays. providing details. Cuba has lems forcing cutbacks in and eggs, all blamed on a nomic collapse.q