Venezuela Plunged into Darkness by Blackout, Government Blames “Sabotage”
A devastating blackout struck most of Venezuela on Friday morning, plunging the country into darkness, according to Communications Minister Freddy Nanez. The government blames the blackout on “sabotage” of the national grid, a claim that has been made in the past to explain frequent power outages.
The blackout, which affected almost the entire national territory, began at around 4:40 am (0840 GMT) on Friday, August 30. “We are reporting that at approximately 4:40 am today, an electrical sabotage took place in Venezuela, a sabotage against the national electrical system,” Nanez told the state-run VTV channel.
This is not the first time that Venezuela has experienced a nationwide blackout. In March 2019, a countrywide outage lasted for several days, affecting millions of people. Western regions, including Tachira and Zulia, have also been experiencing daily power outages, despite being once the hubs of the oil industry.
The government has a history of blaming unproven conspiracies to overthrow President Nicolas Maduro for the blackouts. However, opposition leaders and experts blame corruption and a lack of investment and expertise for the outages.
“It is a new electrical sabotage,” Nanez said. “We know what it cost us in 2019, we know what it has cost us to recover the national electric system since then and today we are facing it with the proper protocols.”
In the wake of the blackout, the government has put in place “anti-coup protocols” to prevent any potential unrest. This comes after a disputed election on July 28, which the opposition claims was won by Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia. Gonzalez Urrutia is due before prosecutors on Friday, his third summons after failing to appear for the previous two.
The opposition leader is accused of “usurpation of functions” and “forgery” for the opposition’s release of electoral results data. He has not said whether he will appear, but has accused Attorney General Tarek William Saab of pursuing politically-motivated charges and not providing “guarantees of independence and due process.”
Maduro has previously threatened to jail Gonzalez Urrutia and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, accusing them of being responsible for post-election protests and violence. At least 27 people have been killed, including two military personnel, and almost 200 wounded, with 2,400 arrests, in protest-related violence since the election.
