Kudos to the editors of VenEconomy for boiling down last week's Clarines incident into its essential points in the Latin American Herald Tribune:
Sadly, it seems that once again we have a case of a state-run company not investing to keep their equipment up to date, in good working order, cutting corners and generally being inefficient and creating an unsafe work place, mainly because these companies are being run based on political criteria and not managerial ones. PDVSA is another case in point. Former oil manager, Ramón Cornieles, states that during the last six years there have been 156 registered accidents in the national refineries, with 42 deaths, and 138 workers injured, 50 fires and explosions, a number of unscheduled stops in operation in a number of plants, oil pipelines bursting, oil tankers colliding, damage to oil wells, and a series of oil spills.
Without excusing the driver for the responsibility and the part he may have played in the accident, two important facts must be brought to light:
1. That during the days before the accident, the regional press had been reporting on the deplorable state that the roads were in, specifically the Clarines road, which had caused a series of accidents. This is the responsibility of the Governor's Office and the Executive Office.
2. According to reports from the accident, some of the people died due to the terrible state that the Clarines Hospital is in. This is also the responsibility of public entities.
So, in order to minimize the possibility that another lethal accident such as what occurred in Clarines occur again, the Administration should take a hard close look at the security measures and policies in place around the country in the nation's industries, especially the oil and petrochemical industries. The Administration should also do something about the country's infrastructure, and at the very least, fix the roads and make sure the country's hospitals are well equipped and up to standard. In other words, govern, manage, and administer the resources of the State so that they benefit the people, which is what you're supposed to be doing.
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