‘We are desperate’: Venezuela’s power cuts fuel growing public anger

The hum of the kidney dialysis machine that Onasis Munoz is connected to suddenly stops. The fluorescent lights overhead flicker out, and his room at a clinic in Valencia, Venezuela, is plunged into darkness.It is not the first time a power cut has interrupted one of the three weekly sessions Munoz needs to do the work his failing kidneys can no longer do, filtering waste and excess fluid from his blood.For years, electricity would go out every couple of days across parts of Venezuela's Carabobo state.But in recent months, Munoz said, the outages have grown to be daily, lasting around seven hours. The clinic's emergency batteries have since been depleted, and its backup generator no longer works.He explained that the frequent power failures have disrupted his treatment. His health has slumped as a result."I arrive home, exhausted, as if I had run a marathon," the 34-year-old said.But often there is no electricity there either, and recent weeks have been sweltering. "I can't switch on the air conditioning. I cannot rest because of the heat and the mosquitoes. There's no relief," Munoz said.Onasis Munoz of Valencia, Venezuela, has seen his dialysis treatment interrupted by power outa...