Widespread blackout hits Venezuela, government blames 'electromagnetic attack'
Thomson Reuters Foundation
CARACAS, July 22 (Reuters) - More than half of Venezuela's 23 states lost power on Monday, according to Reuters witnesses and reports on social media, a blackout the government blamed on an "electromagnetic attack."
It was the first blackout to include the capital, Caracas, since March, when the government blamed the opposition and United States for a series of power outages that left millions of people without running water and telecommunications.
The blackouts exacerbated an economic crisis that has halved the size of the economy.
Venezuelan Information Minister Jorge Rodriguez said the outage on Monday was caused by an "electromagnetic attack," without providing evidence. He added that authorities were in the process of re-establishing service.
Power returned for about 10 minutes to parts of southeastern Bolivar state, site of the Guri hydroelectric dam - the source of most of Venezuela's generation - but went out again, according to a Reuters witness. Electricity was still out throughout Caracas.
"It terrifies me to think we are facing a national blackout again," said Maria Luisa Rivero, a 45-year-old business owner from the city of Valencia, in the central state of Carabobo.
"The first thing I did was run to freeze my food so that it does not go bad like it did like the last time in March. It costs a lot to buy food just to lose it," she said.
The oil-rich country's hyperinflationary economic crisis has led to widespread shortages in food and medicine, prompting over 4 million Venezuelans to leave the country.
Venezuela's national power grid has fallen into disrepair after years of inadequate investment and maintenance, according to the opposition and power experts.
"These blackouts are catastrophic," said 51-year-old janitor Bernardina Guerra, who lives in Caracas. "I live in the eastern part of the city and there the lights go out every day. Each day things are worse." (Reporting by Tibisay Romero in Valencia, Deisy Buitrago in Caracas, and Maria Ramirez in Puerto Ordaz ; Writing by Angus Berwick and Sarah Kinosian; Editing by G Crosse and Peter Cooney)
www.wsj.comPower Outage Leaves Venezuela in the Dark, Again
Ginette Gonzalez And Kejal Vyas
4-5 minutes
Monday’s was the first lengthy blackout to also hit the entirety of the capital city since March. Photo: yuri cortez/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
Updated July 22, 2019 10:08 pm ET
CARACAS—Most of Venezuela was left in the dark Monday in the latest blackout to hit the beleaguered nation as it suffers from an economic collapse and a crumbling power grid.
Local media reported that power was out in at least 19 of Venezuela’s 23 states since around 4:45 p.m. local time. Information Minister Jorge Rodriguez said in a brief televised address that the blackout was caused by an “electromagnetic attack” but didn’t provide evidence or further details. He said repair efforts were under way.
The administration of authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro had similarly blamed sabotage for a dayslong blackout that had hit Venezuela in March. Energy experts later said that that outage had resulted from a brush fire that had affected a power-transmission station.
Power failures have become common in Venezuela as what was once the region’s wealthiest country has plunged into chaos and economic output has more than halved in the last five years. Much of the countryside has experienced rolling blackouts since March as Venezuela’s government, reeling from faulty management, corruption and U.S. financial sanctions, uses its limited resources to prop up Caracas.
But Monday’s was the first lengthy blackout to also hit the entirety of the capital city since March. Caracas’s metro system collapsed. leaving commuters stranded and sitting on curbsides without any way to get home.
“I have to go out in complete darkness to look for my family,” said José Suárez, a 41-year-old administrator. “All we’re experiencing here is anger and gloom.”
Elsi Rivas, 45, said she had to hitchhike and walk more than an hour uphill to reach her slum from the high-end residential east Caracas district where she cleans apartments.
Juan Guaidó, the opposition leader recognized by the U.S. and dozens of other countries as Venezuela’s sole legitimate leader, accused the Maduro regime of faulty management of the power grid. In a message on Twitter, he called on his supporters to hold street protests against Mr. Maduro on Tuesday.
“They destroyed the electrical system and they don’t have an answer,” he said. “We Venezuelans are not going to get accustomed to this disaster.”
Washington has leveled a series of sanctions against Venezuela’s oil industry and what it says are corrupt Maduro allies that have profited off the South American country’s troubles. In late June, the U.S. Justice Department charged two former officials of Venezuela’s state power utility with awarding three Florida companies $60 million in procurement contracts in exchange for bribes.
The U.S. Treasury blacklisted both Venezuelan officials and blamed them for the blackouts earlier this year. The Maduro administration dismissed the charges as part of a U.S.-led campaign to overthrow the leftist government in Caracas.
Information Minister Jorge Rodriguez said in a brief televised address that the blackout was caused by an “electromagnetic attack” but didn’t provide evidence or further details. He said repair efforts were under way. Photo: carlos garcia rawlins/Reuters
Copyright ©2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. |
