Electricity Surges in Caracas and Other Regions Affect Millions in Venezuela

Caracas (OrinocoTribune.com)—The city of Caracas and up to 19 other states across the countryside of Venezuela have reported a series of significant power surges, affecting millions of residents and damaging electrical devices, metro systems in major cities, and rural railway operations. It is worth noting that this incident has occurred almost six weeks before the far-right opposition primaries are due to begin.

Since the late morning of this Wednesday, September 13, until approximately 4:00 pm, local time, Venezuelans utilized social media to report about the electrical failures that mainly consisted on up and downs in the intensity of the electric load, leading to surges and—in some isolated cases—a disruption of the electricity service.

#13Sep #Venezuela #FallaEléctrica
Usuarios en redes sociales reportan tres o más fallas eléctricas en los siguientes estados del país:
– Caracas
– La Guaira
– Miranda
– Táchira
– Aragua
– Mérida
– Anzoátegui
– Barinas
– Lara
– Cojedes
– Bolívar
– Monagas
– Zulia pic.twitter.com/rJXpVrRT4I
— Reporte Ya (@ReporteYa) September 13, 2023

Venezuela has not reported major electricity issues since the nation-wide electricity blackouts that affected the country in 2019, when the opposition—with the help of the US government—launched their failed regime change operation using former deputy Juan Guaidó. For many in Venezuela, it is already public knowledge that electricity disruption is one of the most common tools for the opposition to use to polarize citizens amidst elections.

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Last week, opposition politician Henrique Capriles—from the Justice First (PJ) party—said to the press that he did not feel an electoral buzz among Venezuelans. For some analysts, today’s power surges might be the response of some fanatic far-right opposition people attempting to heat the political climate in the country. In view of this, it is also worth taking also into consideration the fact that President Nicolás Maduro and most of his cabinet are in China, strengthening high-level diplomatic relations.

🗣️ #Atencion Se informa a todos nuestros usuari@s que motivado a fallas en el sistema eléctrico en este momento no estamos prestando servicio comercial.
Ofrecemos excusas por las molestias ocasionadas y sugerimos tomar sus previsiones. @duboulayperozo pic.twitter.com/NW9Flte9ev
— Metro de Caracas (@metro_caracas) September 13, 2023

The metro system in Caracas announced at 4:00 PM on Wednesday that it was temporarily suspending operations, considering its reliance on a stable electricity supply, inconveniencing the many workers that use the system for commuting. At 6:47 PM, it was announced that the service was resumed.

So far, neither Corpoelec—the state agency responsible for the electricity service in Venezuela—nor the Ministry for Electric Energy have made any reports about the incident or its causes.

Special for Orinoco Tribune by staff

OT/JRE/AU