Venezuela watchers have been talking about the “collapse” of the country for a long time. They were mainly using the word metaphorically, applying it to statistical oddities such as fast declines in oil production, big spikes in infant mortality and skyrocketing prices. But since Thursday, Venezuela’s collapse has taken a turn to the literal, as an all-encompassing nationwide blackout has brought the country close to a standstill. Without power, the country has seen a hard stop to all the basics of 21st-century life. In a country already trudging through a serious humanitarian crisis, the collapse of the electric grid is a final catastrophe. Venezuelans were already chronically hungry, with large numbers reporting they lost weight because they could not afford enough food. With […]