A few weeks ago, he returned to Madrid by train when the training stopped. Five minutes passed, 15. The other passengers did not seem worried, but I am from the southern cone, where we know that everything can fail. I went to look for information. I found three reviewers. A technical problem, they said, but nobody knew where the fault was or when I was going to solve. I went back to my seat. The passengers were still immutable. I made a list: I have a bottle of water, a sandwich, the 90%cell phone battery. Good. The train launched 45 minutes later. Happy end. On April 28, when the blackout occurred in Spain, I was in Buenos Aires. I read stories of people who could not buy because I had no cash, of useless homes because everything worked with electric power, worse things. I was surprised by the astonishment of citizens in the face of the evidence that an energy court could end life as it is known. As my confidence in the system is equal to zero – the energy cuts light in the summer for hours or days in Buenos Aires – in my house the refrigerator is never full and there is always water, flashlights, candles, cash. The dread that everything fails is something that many Latin Americans share. On June 16, 2019, there was a blackout in Argentina that affected more than 50 million people (it had an impact on Uruguay and Brazil). On February 25, 2025, a blackout affected eight million homes in Chile. Recently, Ecuador crossed a terrifying stage of blackouts and is waiting for the next one. When I saw the astonishment of the citizens in Spain I remembered the calm of the passengers of the train and I told myself that we are in different worlds, but none seems good to me: neither that of those who live in permanent distrust, nor that of those who give themselves without reservations to a system that is presented impolite, oblivious to the idea that everything can come down in five seconds.
