A widespread blackout affected all of Venezuela on Friday, August 30, including the capital Caracas, reported Freddy Náñez, Minister of Communications, who spoke of a “sabotage”. «Urgent, at 4:50 a.m. today, Friday, August 30, an electrical sabotage occurred in Venezuela, a sabotage against the national electrical system that affected almost the entire national territory, the 24 states report total or partial loss of electricity supply»Mr. Nañez stated.
Venezuela has already experienced major power outages in recent years, which the government almost always blames on its opponents. Opposition leaders and many experts believe this is mainly due to a lack of investment and poor management of the industrial system that deteriorated with the economic crisis.
The blackout comes as the country is mired in a post-election crisis, a month after the July 28 presidential election that saw the controversial re-election of President Nicolas Maduro while the opposition claims victory.
The country periodically experiences small local outages and load shedding, but no nationwide blackouts as currently occurring. Western regions of the country such as Táchira and Zulia, once the oil capital, experience daily power outages. In March 2019, Venezuela was traumatized by a massive five-day blackout, which lasted longer in some areas.
“It is a new form of electrical sabotage”the minister insisted, referring to the breakdown for 2019. “We experienced it in 2019, we know what it cost us in 2019, we know what it cost us to recover the national electrical system. Today we have protocols to deal with it”.
