Nationwide blackout eases in Venezuela as Maduro govt blames opposition ‘sabotage’
Electric power began to return in Venezuela on Friday afternoon after a widespread outage in the capital Caracas and other parts of the country that the government of President Nicolas Maduro blamed on “sabotage” by the opposition without citing evidence. The country's communications minister said in a voice message on Telegram that all 24 of Venezuela’s states had been at least partially impacted, adding that the outage was a “desperate” attempt by Maduro’s opponents to violently oust him as president.
Power began to return to some parts of Venezuela on Friday afternoon after capital Caracas and much of the rest of the country were earlier plunged into a blackout that the government blamed on sabotage by the opposition, without providing evidence.
President Nicolas Maduro, who is locked in a dispute with the opposition over the outcome of a July 28 presidential election, often blames what he says are “attacks” on the power grid on his political rivals, accusations the opposition has always denied.
All 24 of the country’s states reported a total or partial loss of electricity supply, Freddy Nanez, the minister of communication and information, said on state television early on Friday morning.
“We have been victims once again of electrical sabotage,” he said. He gave no evidence of a deliberate attack.
Arrests of opposition figures have risen sharply over the last week.
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