Los Guandules, La Cienaga, Guachupita, Agua Dulce, 27 de Febrero and Padre Castellanos slum neighborhoods suffered through violent protests yesterday supposedly spurred by the frustrations of blackouts of more than 48 hours. Power distributor companies have reduced supply to the low income neighborhoods as part of new policy of restricting supply to neighborhoods with a high rate of non-paying consumers. In the past, for security reasons, the barrios had received more hours of power service than the paying neighborhoods. Listin Diario reports 10 persons were injured, one by a bullet wound and others intoxicated with the tear gas during the confrontations with the Police. News reports said yesterday there was a deficit of 500 megawatts in the power supply. Hoy newspaper speculates that the protests were planned as they occurred simultaneously in the different neighborhoods.
