00:00Welcome back to From the South. Despite the fact that Xiomara Castro's government left an investment of over $1 billion
00:07to strengthen the national energy company, Honduras is currently experiencing an energy crisis that some believe is merely a predict
00:15to restart the privatization process.
00:17Gerardo Torres Zelaya has more on this. Honduras is experiencing a deep energy crisis due to increased rationing across the
00:25country, reduced payment deadlines for bills, and the decision to halt projects initiated by the previous administration that aimed to
00:34strengthen the national electric energy company.
00:36When we arrived, there was a generation deficit of 300 megawatts. The problem was energy scarcity, the energy supply, and
00:48what we did was introduce 450 megawatts over four years to overcome the supply issue.
00:58We also invested in transmission and other 29 distribution circuits were upgraded. If this investment in both transmission and distribution
01:07are incontinued, every time there are heatwaves circuits, we have to be disconnected, and there could be energy shortages due
01:18to draw, leading to rationing.
01:22The current authorities claim that rationing is due to the high temperatures reported in recent days, and of May 1st
01:29of this year, they ended the energy subsidy that allowed more than a million poor households to pay nothing on
01:36their electricity bill for four years. This is something the poorest Hondurans deeply resent.
01:41I benefit from that. The entire time Xiomara was in power. I didn't pay for electricity. Now, we are struggling.
01:52Electricity on top of everything else. Basic necessities, which are essential, and medicine are expensive.
01:59They are going to cut off the electricity if you can pay. They are doing it wrong. The current government
02:05is doing it wrong. We, the poor, are the ones who suffer.
02:11The Xiomara Castro administration invested over $1 billion to strengthen the public energy system by building 10 substations, expanding the
02:21transmission line, implementing 500 community electrification projects, and constructing three solar plants. This laid the groundwork for avoiding rationing this
02:31year. However, the country is experiencing a crisis.
02:34There is a suspicious issue of administrative negligence in recent months. This started a provoking crisis to promote the narrative
02:42of privatizing ENEE, as already been used in Honduras. The narrative portrays ENEE as a dysfunctional company whose only solution
02:52is privatization.
02:53We completely oppose this narrative and understands that there are economic groups interested in privatization and carrying ENEE's $3 billion
03:03in assets.
03:05It's the active ENEE.
03:06Honduras is living in an energy crisis. Shutdowns are more common every day, even though former members of the administration
03:13of Xiomara Castro say that the company was strong enough and that they had enough investment to face this and
03:20other problems. Some think that the current crisis could be an excuse to restart the privatizing process that was stopped
03:28during Castro's government and could now be put back in order by the neoliberal government of Nasdaq.
03:32For Telesura in English, from Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Gerardo Torres Zelaya.
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