Blackout stirs political crisis
Huge power outage adds to Venezuela’s ongoing turmoil
Hospitals struggled to get back-up generators running, businesses shuttered and families anxiously tried to contact loved ones amid Venezuela’s worst-ever power outage yesterday, raising tensions in a country already on edge from ongoing political turmoil.
Much of the nation of 31 million people was still without electricity as the blackout stretched into a second day and patience began to wear thin.
“This has never happened before,” a frustrated Orlando Roa, 54, said, decrying President Nicolas Maduro’s administration for failing to maintain the electrical system and letting qualified engineers leave the country. “This is the fault of the government.”
The blackout was reported to have hit 22 of 23 states, striking during the peak of evening rush hour on Friday, sending thousands of people on long night-time treks home through some of the world’s most violent streets. Maduro ordered schools and all government entities closed and told businesses not to open to facilitate work crews trying to restore power.
By early yesterday, residents and pro-government state broadcaster VTV reported power was starting to return to parts of Caracas. The stop lights in several neighbourhoods were back on while in one office building the electricity flickered to life and then turned off.
Venezuela’s socialist government blamed the power failure on rightwing extremists taking orders from the United States, including Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio, and said they were intent on causing pandemonium for several days but offered no proof.
“The electricity war declared and directed by the imperialist United States against our people will be overcome!” Maduro wrote on Twitter in his few public remarks on the outage. “No one can defeat the people of Bolivar and Chavez. Maximum unity patriots!”
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo shot back saying only Maduro was to blame.
“Maduro’s policies bring nothing but darkness,” Pompeo wrote on social media. “No food. No medicine. Now, no power. Next, no Maduro.”
The outage comes as Venezuela is in the throes of a political struggle between Maduro and opposition leader Juan Guaido, the head of congress who declared himself the nation’s rightful president in January and is recognised by the United States and about 50 other nations.