Venezuela is experiencing a nationwide power outage that began at 4:50 a.m. local time (08:50 GMT), a result of what government sources say is “electrical sabotage.” Officials are trying to restore service as quickly as possible. The country’s president, Nicolas Maduro, has called for “calm” from the population in the face of the “criminal attack.”
The Minister of Communications, Freddy Ñáñezreported via Telegram that the outage affected “several states of the country, including Greater Caracas,” a fact confirmed by citizens of at least 21 of the 23 regions that make up the country through different social networks.
The official, who did not specify what type of “sabotage” was carried out or who was responsible, noted that “at the moment, the electrical office team is working on the full refund of service“.
He explained that a “special operation for surface transport”managed by the Caracas Metro”, although, for the moment, the number of stations or sectors in operation is unknown.
Mature and hair
For his part, Maduro called for “calm” in the face of a new “criminal attack” against the national electrical system. “As always, I stand with the people and I am at the forefront in the face of this criminal attack against the national electrical system. I have said it and I repeat it: Calm and sane, nerves of steel!“, the head of state said in a message on Telegram.
The Chavista leader blamed the “fascism” of “attack on the people”, a “new attack” that everyone in the country – he added – will overcome “together”.
In the same spirit, the Minister of the Interior, Diosdado Haircalled the event “another criminal attack” and assured that “justice” will be served against “those who plan these activities against our people.”
He stressed that the Executive already had information about allegations of attacks against this service, including the one “that took place” last Tuesday, which affected, as he said then, Caracas and eight of the 23 states that make up the country, of which he also accused “opposition sectors.”
He assured that “Certain sectors” of the capital have already started receiving supplies electrical, a process that – he said – will take place “little by little”, without giving an approximate time frame for its resolution.
power outage 2019
Various states across the country are frequently facing power outages, sometimes lasting up to a week, as regularly reported by users in various regions.
The last major national outage occurred in March 2019, when much of the country was without power for four days.
Then, the government also attributed the national failure to sabotage, for which it pointed the finger at the opposition and the governments of the United States and Colombia, led at the time by Donald Trump and Iván Duque respectively.
