Venezuelan Communications Minister Freddy Ñáñez reported via Telegram that the blackout has affected “several states in the country, including Greater Caracas,” a fact that was confirmed via various social networks by citizens from at least 21 of the 23 regions that make up the country.
The official said that “at this time, the electrical cabinet team is working on the complete restoration of the service.” He explained that a “special operation for surface transport” has been activated in the capital, managed by Metro de Caracas,” although, for the moment, the number of stations or sectors that are in operation is unknown.
Ñáñez did not specify what type of “sabotage” had been perpetrated. But, despite the blackout and its consequences, she assured that no one “will take away the peace and tranquility of Venezuelans.”
Preliminary summons to opponent and “anti-coup protocols”
“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 since then and today we are facing it with the anti-coup protocols because (it) is what has existed in Venezuela since before July 28, during July 28 and these little more than 30 days that have passed,” insisted the minister.
Ñáñez was referring to the presidential elections of July 28, in which the current president, Nicolás Maduro, was proclaimed for a third six-year term, and which the opposition led by María Corina Machado called fraudulent, claiming to have evidence showing that its candidate Edmundo González Urrutia was the winner of the contest.
“The extreme right (…) has attempted a desperate measure, a blind measure, a stubborn measure that leads nowhere,” added Ñáñez, in a video she shared on Telegram, without showing evidence.
He said that the blackout “is part of the coup plan” that “has been assumed” by the leader of the largest opposition coalition – the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) – González Urrutia, and his greatest supporter, Machado, whose political disqualification the minister hopes will remain in place for “the rest of the days.”
González Urrutia, 75, was due to appear before the prosecutor’s office on Friday, which opened a criminal investigation against him. This is the third summons, after ignoring two others. His failure to do so would lead to the issuance of an arrest warrant. It is not clear how the procedure will go amid the national blackout.
Frequent blackouts
Various states in the country experience frequent blackouts, in some cases lasting up to a week, according to reports from users in various regions. Western regions of the country such as Táchira and Zulia, once the oil capital, experience power cuts on a daily basis.
The last major national blackout occurred in March 2019, when much of the country was without power for four days.
The government also attributed the national failure to sabotage, for which it pointed to the opposition and the governments of the United States and Colombia, led at that time by Donald Trump and Iván Duque respectively.
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