Where the Catatumbo River meets Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela, lightning strikes up to 300 times a year for as many as 9 hours a night. "Catatumbo Lightning," also known as the Maracaibo Beacon, holds the Guinness World Record for the "highest concentration of lightning,

The violence, carried out over the last four days in a northeast region called Catatumbo, is some of the worst the country has suffered through in recent years. And it has raised concerns that the ...