Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced April 15 that after a year of drought, the water level of the Guri dam — one of three hydroelectric dams that provide more than 70 percent of the country's power — stopped its descent thanks to heavy rains in Bolivar state, where the dam is located. Chavez said his adversaries think an electricity blackout will bring down his government, but fortunately, the dam is recovering. The recent rain in Bolivar state has undoubtedly come as a relief to Chavez, who is dealing with a severe electricity crisis with political implications. But contrary to his claims, the water level of the Guri dam has not stopped its descent. According to data from Venezuela's state power agency, the Operation of Interconnected Systems (OPSIS) office, the water level of the dam descended three centimeters in the past 24 hours, reaching a level of 248.79 meters (271.2 yards) above sea level. The data also showed the dam's water inflow rate at 3,330 cubic meters per second and turbinated water flow at 4,518 cubic meters per second. The level at which the bulk dam's turbines would have to be shut down is 240 meters above sea level. For the water level to stop its descent, the turbinated water flow has to equal the water inflow of the dam for at least two to three days, and a 5,000 cubic meter per second water inflow is needed to begin a real recovery. Whether Venezuela receives enough rainfall to raise the water level and avert a crisis remains to be seen, and it should be noted that the OPSIS data has become increasingly unreliable in recent weeks. Meanwhile, Venezuela's thermoelectric sector remains heavily strained. The government is trying to cope with the crisis by purchasing expensive generators (eight of which were delivered to Venezuela on April 15 by Citgo) and hauling barges carrying electricity generators to the Lake Maracaibo region, where oil production is concentrated, to make up for the loss of electricity from neighboring Colombia. These attempts at short-term fixes are proving costly for the government, as evidenced by ongoing staggered strikes by contract oil workers in the northeastern state of Monagas. Some 5,000 workers are demanding that Venezuelan state energy company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) retroactively pay their salaries that were due in January, revealing the extent to which PDVSA is struggling to maintain a flow of revenue to pay off its debt obligations, to say nothing of paying workers in the fields. The strikes have semi-paralyzed rigs operated by China National Petroleum Company, Canada's Precision Drilling, the United Kingdom's Petrex and U.S. firm Schlumberger, which work in partnership with PDVSA.