CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuelans awoke Friday to a major power outage in the capital, Caracas, and several states.
President Nicolas Maduro’s government blamed the outage, which it said began about 4:50 a.m., on “electrical sabotage.”
Freddy Nanez, the communications minister, said officials were working to restore power. “Nobody will take away our peace and tranquility of the Venezuelan people,” he wrote in a message shared with journalists on Telegram.
Venezuela in years past suffered from regular power outages that the government almost always blamed on its opponents, but that energy experts said were the result of brush fires damaging transmission lines and poor maintenance of the country’s electrical infrastructure.
Many of the energy problems have subsided as the South American nation’s economy has stabilized, high inflation has eased and a de facto dollarization has reduced shortages of imported goods.
Still, following last month’s contested presidential election, officials are quick to blame opponents for even minor disruptions. That was the case on Tuesday, when a brownout affected Caracas and several central states.
“This is a constant strategy of the opposition, the enemies of this country, to impact the population,” Diosdado Cabello, the newly appointed interior minister who is believed to be the second most powerful man in the country, said after the earlier outage.
Residents of the capital were taking Friday’s disruption in stride. Traffic during the normally busy rush hour was lighter than usual and some people complained about being unable to communicate with family members due to a lack of cellphone service.
Alejandra Martinez, a 25-year-old salesclerk, said she noticed the power went out when a fan stopped working. “I thought the power would come back and I went back to sleep,” she said while trying to catch a bus to work as dawn broke over Caracas. “But when I woke up, I realized it was an outage.”
The Venezuelan government has attributed a major power outage in the capital city of Caracas to sabotage, sparking controversy and raising concerns about the country’s already fragile infrastructure.
The blackout, which occurred on Monday evening, left millions of residents without electricity for several hours. The government quickly pointed the finger at “sabotage” by opposition groups, claiming that the outage was a deliberate attempt to destabilize the country.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro condemned the alleged sabotage, calling it a “criminal act” and vowing to hold those responsible accountable. He also accused the United States of being behind the attack, claiming that it was part of a larger effort to overthrow his government.
However, critics have questioned the government’s claims, pointing to the country’s long history of power outages and infrastructure problems. Venezuela has been plagued by frequent blackouts in recent years, due in large part to a lack of investment in its aging power grid.
Opposition leaders have denied any involvement in the blackout, accusing the government of using the incident as a pretext to crack down on dissent. They have called for an independent investigation into the cause of the outage, arguing that the government’s claims of sabotage are baseless.
The power outage in Caracas has once again highlighted the challenges facing Venezuela as it grapples with a deepening economic crisis and political turmoil. The country’s infrastructure is in desperate need of repair and modernization, but limited resources and political instability have hindered efforts to address these issues.
As Venezuelans continue to struggle with unreliable electricity and other basic services, the government’s response to the recent blackout will be closely watched. Whether the outage was indeed an act of sabotage or simply a result of the country’s crumbling infrastructure, one thing is clear: Venezuela’s power grid is in urgent need of attention and investment.
