Leroy N. Soetoro
2019-04-10 22:56:52 UTC
https://www.foxnews.com/world/mountain-park-becomes-public-bath-amid-
venezuela-crisis
CARACAS, Venezuela After generations of breathing life into Venezuela's
crowded capital, the tree-covered slopes of El Avila mountain looming
above Caracas are being transformed into a public bath amid worsening
power failures that are disrupting life in the crisis-wracked country.
Every day, hundreds of people without running water hike up from the city
on Avila's winding trails to bathe, wash clothes and collect water to
carry home. To the dismay of environmental activists who fear the damage
will be irreversible, people are littering its slopes and creeks with
shampoo and water bottles, food wrappers, cardboard and old clothes.
Wildfires in recent weeks that charred swaths of the drought-stricken
mountain have compounded the damage, threatening to leave long-term
environmental scars on the land declared a national park six decades ago.
School bus driver Gorge Eglis Escalante and his teenage daughter dragged a
pink basket of dirty clothes to a secluded spot recently. Spigots in their
Chacaito neighborhood ran dry nearly a month earlier.
"I never would have imagined doing this here," Escalante said while
soaking a shirt in a bucket of stream water and detergent after scrubbing
it on a rock. "We have the government to thank for this."
Residents of Caracas have been crowding waterways in the park of 315
square miles (81,800 hectares) every day since Venezuela's power grid
failed March 7, knocking out lights as well as the pumps that move water
to homes.
The nationwide blackout, and others that have followed, comes as President
Nicolas Maduro and opposition leader Juan Guaidó struggle over power. The
opposition, which blames Venezuela's economic collapse on mismanagement
and damaging policies by the socialist government, is trying to oust
Maduro with backing from the United States and some 50 other nations.
Officially given the indigenous name "Waraira Repano," or "Sierra Grande,"
the park is home to dozens of birds and other species, such as opossums,
bats, squirrels, pumas, foxes, porcupines and deer.
The wildlife relies on its pristine brooks and creeks for water and the
animals put their nests and burrows amid the vast stretch of trees and
shrubs that is now being invaded by humans.
Liquor store clerk Jonathan Lopez said he began visiting Avila at dawn two
weeks ago to bathe and collect water after his poor 23rd of January
neighborhood lost electricity.
"It gives you the shivers," he said of his bath in the crystal-clear
Chacaito stream, scooping water with his hands to rinse soap from his head
and body while standing thigh-deep. "But you have to put up to get by."
Nearby, a thin man wearing jeans and a light blue sweat shirt filled
plastic bottles with water. Then he unzipped his trousers and tried to
urinate unnoticed in the stream.
Wildfires that have hit the park lately and the influx of people have put
the mountain in a "high risk" situation, said José Manuel Silva, director
of Venezuela Verde, a charity dedicated to environmental protection.
"It's having a big impact on Avila," Silva said.
But there is little that can be done to protect the park amid Venezuela's
economic crunch, he said. He noted that state agencies have had to
dramatically reduce numbers of park rangers and firefighters. And, he
added, it's impossible to stop the influx of people searching for water
a basic human necessity.
Doing rounds at Avila, a National Parks Institute official said
authorities are aware of the trash piling up and the environmental damage.
But the official, who insisted on speaking anonymously because he was not
authorized to comment, said his work is now limited to guaranteeing that
people who come to Avila for water "don't get out of hand."
Lopez, the liquor store clerk, conceded that he is also concerned about
the treasured park's fate. Near his makeshift bath, somebody had left
behind old clothes hanging on bushes.
Even the soap and laundry detergents he uses will take a toll, Lopez said.
But he said he has few other options to get cleaned up.
"You don't truly appreciate the things you have until you've lost them,"
he said.
--
No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.
Donald J. Trump, 304 electoral votes to 227, defeated compulsive liar in
denial Hillary Rodham Clinton on December 19th, 2016. The clown car
parade of the democrat party ran out of gas and got run over by a Trump
truck.
Congratulations President Trump. Thank you for cleaning up the disaster
of the Obama presidency.
The Obama-led Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS)
approved Uranium One in fall 2010. With a little luck, we'll see
compulsive liar Hillary Clinton in jail before she dies.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp.
Obama increased total debt from $10 trillion to $20 trillion in the eight
years he was in office, and sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood queer
liberal democrat donors.
venezuela-crisis
CARACAS, Venezuela After generations of breathing life into Venezuela's
crowded capital, the tree-covered slopes of El Avila mountain looming
above Caracas are being transformed into a public bath amid worsening
power failures that are disrupting life in the crisis-wracked country.
Every day, hundreds of people without running water hike up from the city
on Avila's winding trails to bathe, wash clothes and collect water to
carry home. To the dismay of environmental activists who fear the damage
will be irreversible, people are littering its slopes and creeks with
shampoo and water bottles, food wrappers, cardboard and old clothes.
Wildfires in recent weeks that charred swaths of the drought-stricken
mountain have compounded the damage, threatening to leave long-term
environmental scars on the land declared a national park six decades ago.
School bus driver Gorge Eglis Escalante and his teenage daughter dragged a
pink basket of dirty clothes to a secluded spot recently. Spigots in their
Chacaito neighborhood ran dry nearly a month earlier.
"I never would have imagined doing this here," Escalante said while
soaking a shirt in a bucket of stream water and detergent after scrubbing
it on a rock. "We have the government to thank for this."
Residents of Caracas have been crowding waterways in the park of 315
square miles (81,800 hectares) every day since Venezuela's power grid
failed March 7, knocking out lights as well as the pumps that move water
to homes.
The nationwide blackout, and others that have followed, comes as President
Nicolas Maduro and opposition leader Juan Guaidó struggle over power. The
opposition, which blames Venezuela's economic collapse on mismanagement
and damaging policies by the socialist government, is trying to oust
Maduro with backing from the United States and some 50 other nations.
Officially given the indigenous name "Waraira Repano," or "Sierra Grande,"
the park is home to dozens of birds and other species, such as opossums,
bats, squirrels, pumas, foxes, porcupines and deer.
The wildlife relies on its pristine brooks and creeks for water and the
animals put their nests and burrows amid the vast stretch of trees and
shrubs that is now being invaded by humans.
Liquor store clerk Jonathan Lopez said he began visiting Avila at dawn two
weeks ago to bathe and collect water after his poor 23rd of January
neighborhood lost electricity.
"It gives you the shivers," he said of his bath in the crystal-clear
Chacaito stream, scooping water with his hands to rinse soap from his head
and body while standing thigh-deep. "But you have to put up to get by."
Nearby, a thin man wearing jeans and a light blue sweat shirt filled
plastic bottles with water. Then he unzipped his trousers and tried to
urinate unnoticed in the stream.
Wildfires that have hit the park lately and the influx of people have put
the mountain in a "high risk" situation, said José Manuel Silva, director
of Venezuela Verde, a charity dedicated to environmental protection.
"It's having a big impact on Avila," Silva said.
But there is little that can be done to protect the park amid Venezuela's
economic crunch, he said. He noted that state agencies have had to
dramatically reduce numbers of park rangers and firefighters. And, he
added, it's impossible to stop the influx of people searching for water
a basic human necessity.
Doing rounds at Avila, a National Parks Institute official said
authorities are aware of the trash piling up and the environmental damage.
But the official, who insisted on speaking anonymously because he was not
authorized to comment, said his work is now limited to guaranteeing that
people who come to Avila for water "don't get out of hand."
Lopez, the liquor store clerk, conceded that he is also concerned about
the treasured park's fate. Near his makeshift bath, somebody had left
behind old clothes hanging on bushes.
Even the soap and laundry detergents he uses will take a toll, Lopez said.
But he said he has few other options to get cleaned up.
"You don't truly appreciate the things you have until you've lost them,"
he said.
--
No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.
Donald J. Trump, 304 electoral votes to 227, defeated compulsive liar in
denial Hillary Rodham Clinton on December 19th, 2016. The clown car
parade of the democrat party ran out of gas and got run over by a Trump
truck.
Congratulations President Trump. Thank you for cleaning up the disaster
of the Obama presidency.
The Obama-led Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS)
approved Uranium One in fall 2010. With a little luck, we'll see
compulsive liar Hillary Clinton in jail before she dies.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp.
Obama increased total debt from $10 trillion to $20 trillion in the eight
years he was in office, and sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood queer
liberal democrat donors.