Broad blackouts plague Venezuela
Government-owned electricity operator alleges ‘sabotage’
CARACAS, VENEZUELA— A massive blackout plunged Caracas and much of the nation into chaos on Thursday, forcing the rushhour closure of the capital’s metro and sending tens of thousands of people into the streets in what the authorities alleged was an act of “sabotage.”
“This is part of a power war against the state,” the government-owned electricity operator, Corpolec, said in a tweet. It said that the Guri hydroelectric complex in southern Bolivar state — the source of most of the country’s electricity — had been “sabotaged.” But authorities provided no evidence of that.
Blackouts have become common in Venezuela as a severe economic crisis has made it difficult to perform maintenance or purchase imported spare parts. But the outage Thursday appeared to be broader than usual, with local media reports saying it had hit nearly all of the country’s 23 states.
Venezuela is especially tense at the moment, as a U.S.-backed opposition movement seeks to push President Nicolas Maduro from power. Over 50 countries have recognized the National Assembly speaker, Juan Guaido, as the legitimate president of Venezuela, citing irregularities in Maduro’s reelection last year.
The opposition leader is planning a massive rally Saturday. Maduro has accused him of attempting a coup with help from Washington.
The U.S. government in January imposed stiff sanctions on Venezuelan oil — its principal export — but there was no sign the blackout was related to that.
In a series of tweets overnight, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ridiculed the Venezuelan government for blaming outsiders for the power outage which continued into Friday morning.
“The power outage and the devastation hurting ordinary Venezuelans is not because of the USA. It’s not because of Colombia. It’s not Ecuador or Brazil, Europe or anywhere else. Power shortages and starvation are the result of the Maduro regime’s incompetence,” he wrote.
“No food. No medicine. Now, no power. Next, no Maduro,” he added in another tweet.
The outage began about 5 p.m., at the start of rush hour. In some office buildings in Caracas, people were trapped in elevators. Long lines stretched along main avenues as residents scrambled to get on the few public buses that were still running despite a shortage of parts. Traffic clogged the streets, as traffic signals stopped working.
Maria Lopez, 35, a cleaning woman, normally rides the metro but was forced to walk to her home — several miles away — after the trains shut down. “I live so far away. And all of Caracas is without power,” she said, as she trudged along a main avenue.
Tomas Castro, 36, a government employee, watched throngs of people pouring down the street in a central business district. “This is not going to lead to any uprising. People have grown used to it,” he said, predicting that Maduro’s government would be removed only by force.
“Today there’s a blackout. Tomorrow there are shortages. Then there is the insane crime,” he said, ticking off the city’s problems.
Nonetheless, anger at the government was palpable. Periodically, pedestrians broke into a popular chant, disparaging Maduro’s mother.
Blackouts are just one of the problems that are increasingly crippling the country. There are frequent water shortages, inflation is soaring toward10 million per cent, and more than three million people have migrated abroad in the past few years.