-The crisis in Venezuela is worsening to the point that U.S. intelligence officials said over the weekend they believe violent insurrection is becoming likely. Food and even water are in desperately short supply, and electricity is so scarce that the government operates only two days a week; blackouts strike other areas often and without warning. Hospitals struggle to carry on; one effect is that infant mortality has increased by 100 times – not 100%, but 100 times – from three years ago. President Nicolàs Maduro has responded by claiming dictatorial powers, and on Friday he extended the self-declared state of emergency by another 60 days. On Saturday, he announced military exercises because his enemies, he says, are planning to orchestrate foreign intervention.