For the last three days the energy crisis has really hit us hard in Nicaragua. We have 12 hour rolling blackouts and since the water pumps for potable water are run on electricity too, we are also out of water for longer periods. So no lights and no water. I have to get up a 3 A.M. to fill up water tanks when both power and water arrive. I get up in the morning and start hauling water buckets to the bathrooms in the house. My wife and I take turns getting our daughters ready for school in the morning, wich now takes longer for obvious reasons. It's just another hassle that comes with living in the third world.

I live in a nice part or town and I am able to cope but Managua's poor, along with everybody else, are fed up and since yesterday have been protesting in the streets.

Today they broke into the National Energy Regulators Office INE and demanded that the the Spanish multinational Union Fenosa, that runs power distribution in Nicaragua, be stripped of its franchise.

Here are the pics



Protester in a Gigantona suit waits to be escorted out of the National Regulators Office in Managua after participating in a peaceful take over of the builbing to protest rolling 12 hour blackouts and water shortages affecting Nicaragua for the last couple of weeks. Foto LA PRENSA/Tomas Stargardter - Copyright LA PRENSA/Tomas Stargardter



Protesters and police clash outside the National Regulators Office in Managua after about 200 people took over the building to protest against 12 hour rolling blackouts and water shortages that have been affecting the country for the last couple of weeks and that have intensified since this past Monday, August 14. Foto LA PRENSA/Tomas Stargardter - Copyright LA PRENSA/Tomas Stargardter



A young man cools himself while protesting on the roof of the National Regulators office in Managua, against rolling 12 blackouts and water shortages. Foto LA PRENSA/Tomas Stargardter - Copyright LA PRENSA/Tomas Stargardter




Police forcible remove protestors form the roof of the National Regualros Office in Managua, Nicaragua after a couple of hundred demonstrators took over the building to protest against rolling 12 hour blackouts and water shorages. Foto LA PRENSA/Tomas Stargardter - Copyright LA PRENSA/Tomas Stargardter




A public employee of the National Regulators Office in Managua, Nicaragua, observes the damage done ot one of the doors of the building after it was taken over by protesters this Wednesday August 16 2006. Foto LA PRENSA/Tomas Stargardter - Copyright LA PRENSA/Tomas Stargardter