Why do I have the feeling that "sacked his minister" actually involved a sack... and possibly some heavy chain and a body of water?
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http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,582999,00.html?test=latestnewsChavez Sacks Minister, Stops Rolling Blackouts
Thursday , January 14, 2010
AP
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CARACAS, Venezuela —
President Hugo Chavez indefinitely suspended rolling blackouts in Venezuela's capital just a day after they began, and sacked his electricity minister saying he was responsible for mistakes in the way the rationing plan was applied.
Chavez's announcement late Wednesday was a significant shift in his attempts to prevent a widespread power collapse in the coming months by implementing rolling blackouts of up to four hours a day throughout the country.
"I've ordered the electrical outages to be suspended, only in Caracas," Chavez said on state television. "Because this government has to be capable of recognizing mistakes made and fixing them in time."
Chavez said since the outages began in Caracas at midnight Tuesday, authorities had cut power to the wrong sectors of the city in some cases. "I think in one area they repeated the outage a few hours later," he said.
He added that some stoplights were left without power.
"Enough. I said if that's what is going on, there was an error there," Chavez said.
Chavez said he asked Electricity Minister Angel Rodriguez to resign and that "he has taken it like a soldier."
Chavez said he ordered the chief of the city's state electric utility not to schedule any more blackouts until the process is reviewed. It was unclear how soon the government could attempt to restart the measures in Caracas.
The government says rationing is necessary to prevent a widespread power collapse if the water levels behind Guri Dam — which supplies most of Venezuela's electricity — fall to critical lows in the coming months due to a severe drought. Officials also acknowledge that some gas- and oil-fueled thermoelectric plants are producing below capacity while undergoing repairs.
The rolling blackouts have drawn angry complaints from some Venezuelans, but Chavez didn't refer to the popularity of the measures in his phone call to a late-night talk show. Earlier in the day, he had urged Venezuelans to accept the cutbacks and likened them to a national energy diet.
Some Caracas residents grumbled that the outages were causing problems.
"This is the worst," said Johana Machado, a 30-year-old cashier at a bakery-delicatessen. With no electricity to power the coffee maker or the scale used to weigh cold cuts, Machado said sales were suffering.
Chavez announced he was calling off the rolling blackouts shortly before some parts of Caracas were set to begin four-hour outages at midnight.
"People shouldn't worry. There is not going to be any power outage," Chavez said. He said that while the government reviews its approach, "we're going to limit the instructions that we've given: turn off the lights, each person saving as much as he or she can."
Other rationing measures are to remain in place, including rolling blackouts in other parts of the country.
The government also has reduced the hours of electricity supply for shopping centers and required businesses and large residential complexes to cut energy use by 20 percent or face fines. Chavez reduced the workday of many public employees, setting new hours from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Critics blame Chavez's government for the shortage, saying it has failed to complete enough power upgrades to keep up with increasing demand.
Chavez denied that, saying the drought is the primary culprit and that his government is acting to extend Guri Dam's capacity to feed the electrical grid. Rains are expected to return at the end of the traditional dry season in May.
