A massive blackout early Friday morning left most of Venezuela in darkness, which Communications Minister Freddy Ñáñez attributed to “sabotage” of the national grid.
Venezuela has experienced frequent power outages, which President Nicolás Maduro’s government regularly blames on alleged conspiracies to topple him.
Ñáñez reported that at around 4:40 am (0840 GMT) on Friday, August 30, an electrical sabotage occurred, impacting nearly the entire country.
“All 24 states are reporting total or partial loss of electricity supply,” Ñáñez said on state-run VTV.
The worst nationwide blackout in Venezuela’s recent history occurred in March 2019 and lasted several days.
Western regions such as Táchira and Zulia, once centers of the oil industry, endure daily power outages.
The Maduro government has accused the United States and the political opposition of orchestrating these blackouts.
However, opposition leaders and experts point to corruption, lack of investment, and insufficient expertise as the true causes of the outages.
“This is a new electrical sabotage,” Ñáñez declared, noting that the government has implemented “anti-coup protocols” in response to the blackout, referencing the disputed July 28 election.
Maduro was declared the winner of that election, but the government-aligned National Electoral Council (CNE) has withheld detailed data to verify the results.
The opposition claims its candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia, won by a landslide and has released polling station-level data to support their claim.
González Urrutia, who faces charges of “usurpation of functions” and “forgery” for releasing electoral data, was scheduled to appear before prosecutors on Friday. This would have been his third summons after missing the previous two.
Authorities have warned that failure to appear could result in an arrest warrant, but it is unclear if the proceedings will continue after the blackout.
González Urrutia has accused Attorney General Tarek William Saab of pursuing politically motivated charges without ensuring “guarantees of independence and due process.”
Maduro has previously threatened to jail both González Urrutia and opposition leader María Corina Machado, blaming them for post-election protests and violence that have left at least 27 people dead, including two military personnel, nearly 200 injured, and 2,400 arrested.
AFP
