Venezuela's oil revival hopes threatened by prolonged power cuts in Cabimas

For 30 years, Aníbal Landaeta has welcomed guests to Cabimas. Now the owner of two hotels is investing in upgrades, preparing for a foreign executive. He hopes we'll need accommodation as oil activity picks up. He says customers are already beginning to arrive, although a full recovery is still some way off. Customers are already coming, though not in large numbers. There's more activity linked to oil, and some wells are being reactivated. Gavimas helped build Venezuela's oil industry, but its businesses have also endured years of decline. Outside Aníbal's hotels, any recovery would have to reach businesses that depend on daily sales. Social activist Mary Alvarez acknowledges signs of renewed oil activity, but she questions what that means for residents facing prolonged blackouts and wages that cannot cover their needs. We have power cuts lasting more than 12 hours, while workers' wages are nowhere near enough to live on. Venezuela's oil company, PDVSA, has reportedly proposed investing $600 million in fields around Cabimas and Tiahuanaco through 2039. A proposal on that scale raises expectations, but local businesses still have to pay their bills while they wait. At Aníbal's hotel, keeping the doors open means generating his own electricity during the outage. Across Zulia State, prolonged power cuts have prompted repeated protests in recent months. For a hotel preparing to welcome more guests, unreliable electricity is an immediate expense. We have four to six hours without electricity every day. Of course it affects our business. If we switch off the generator, customers don't come in. Businesses here are counting on an oil recovery to bring more paying customers. Reliable electricity and water will be essential if that recovery is to last. Nori Soto, Al Jazeera, Cabimas.