The 1992 Colombian energy crisis was a crisis of the Colombian energy sector during the presidency of

César Gaviria César Augusto Gaviria Trujillo ( ; born 31 March 1947) is a Colombian economist and politician who served as the President of Colombia from 1990 to 1994, Secretary General of the Organization of American States from 1994 to 2004 and National D ...

, from May 2, 1992, to February 7, 1993, caused by

El Niño EL, El or el may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities * El, a character from the manga series ''Shugo Chara!'' by Peach-Pit * Eleven (''Stranger Things'') (El), a fictional character in the TV series ''Stranger Things'' * El, fami ...

. El Niño caused droughts across much of the country, which lowered reservoir levels at many of its principal hydroelectric dams and a further crisis within the state public services company,

Interconexión Eléctrica Interconexión Eléctrica also known as ISA (, ), is a Colombian company specializing in energy transmission, road concessions, and information and telecommunications infrastructures. It is the largest energy transmission company in Latin Americ ...

, S.A. (ISA).

Causes

El Niño occurs when warm waters originating off the coast of Australia reach South American shores. This causes significant variation in marine climates and droughts and floods. The 1992 El Niño, which produced droughts in Colombia, coincided with infrastructure problems within the nation's hydroelectric power facilities.

Rationing

The government under president

opted to take action, introducing a rationing program. On March 2, 1992, the government announced scheduled power cuts, of up to nine hours in cities such as

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...

and up to 18 hours on the islands of San Andrés y Providencia. Public awareness campaigns were launched under the name ''"Cierre la llave"'' ("Turn Off the Tap"), hoping to measure how much water was being wasted. In the city of

Cali Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,280,522 residents estimate by National Administrative Department of Statistics, DANE in 2023. The city span ...

, a decree was passed setting six days in prison as a penalty for heavy water users.

"Hora Gaviria"

As a further measure, Gaviria changed Colombia's time zone from UTC-5 to UTC-4, which was then the time zone of neighboring

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

, beginning on Saturday, May 2, 1992, at 1:00 am. The measure came to be known as ''"Hora Gaviria"'' ("Gaviria Time"). Of Colombia's 1,024 municipalities, 1,000 declined to change time zones and took months to come into effect. The time zone change was ended on February 7, 1993.

Impacts

One of two most popular

telenovela A telenovela is a type of a television serial drama or soap opera produced primarily in Latin America. The word combines ''tele'' (for "television") and ''novela'' (meaning "novel"). Similar Drama (film and television), drama genres around the w ...

s of 1992 in Colombia, '' En cuerpo ajeno'', was moved from 8pm to 10pm on

Cadena Uno Cadena is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Ana Lilia Garza Cadena (born 1970), Mexican politician *Carlos Cadena (1917–2001), Mexican American lawyer, civil rights activist and judge * Carlos Cadena Gaitan (born 1983), journ ...

, then a highly unusual timeslot for flagship novelas on Colombian television, so that more viewers could see it when they were not impacted by energy rationing (the blackouts in Bogotá ended at 9 pm). The other popular telenovela, '' Sangre de Lobos'', was already being broadcast at 10pm on

Canal A Canal A (previously known as ''Cadena Dos'') was a Colombian open television network launched on January 16, 1971, under the name ''Tele9 Corazón'' (pronounced "telenueve corazón"). History TV9 Telebogotá (Teletigre), the first private tel ...

Caracol Radio Caracol Radio (''Cadena Radial Colombiana'', "Colombian Radio Network") is one of the main radio networks in Colombia. Founded in Medellín in 1948 when ''La Voz de Antioquia'' station acquired the 50% of ''Emisoras Nuevo Mundo'', based in Bogot� ...

created a program, ''La Luciérnaga'' ("The Firefly"), for the early evening hours when power cuts were in effect in many areas; as of 2015, the program remains on the air.

References

{{Portal, Colombia, Energy Energy crises Energy in Colombia Economy of Colombia 1992 in Colombia 1992 in the environment Economic history of Colombia