View of a residential area of Caracas, Venezuela, during a nationwide electrical blackout on Friday, August 30, 2024. Photo: Ariana Cubillos/AP.
Caracas (OrinocoTribune.com)—Venezuelan authorities reported that a nationwide electrical blackout hit Venezuela in the early hours of Friday, August 30, affecting 21 of Venezuela’s 23 states, including the capital city of Caracas. On Tuesday, a partial power outage was reported in several areas of Caracas and several other cities in Venezuela. In that case electricity was restored within four hours.
Venezuelan Minister for Communications and Information Freddy Ñáñez reported that “at approximately 4:40 a.m. on Friday, August 30, an electrical sabotage occurred in Venezuela that has affected almost the entire national territory.” Minister Ñáñez did not provide additional details about the nature of the sabotage that happened on Tuesday when a transmission tower was attacked, affecting Line 765 of the National Electric System.
Many Venezuelans blame this new electrical sabotage on the instability generated by the far-right Venezuelan opposition in its attempt to consolidate the coup d’etat attempted during and after the July 28 presidential elections. These sabotages would represent an escalation to offset the limited turnout in the opposition’s latest street protests.
Minister Ñáñez explained that at 4:45 in the morning, all the CORPOELEC teams were immediately sent out to resolve this new aggression and reactivate the electric service to Venezuelans to give them peace of mind, “which is what they ultimately want to take away from us with these actions of blind violence that lead nowhere, with these violent adventures that only bring anguish to the people.”
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro asked the Venezuelan people to have nerves of steel in the face of the new sabotage on the National Electric System. On his Telegram channel, he wrote: “As always, I am with the people, and I am at the forefront of the situation, facing this criminal attack against the National Electric System. I have said it, and I repeat it: Calm and sanity, nerves of steel! Desperate fascism is attacking the people, but together, we will overcome this new attack. We will always win!” he added.
In the afternoon, President Maduro gave a press conference explaining that the attack was designed to last for several days, targeting the electricity transmission network and aiming at the Guri Dam. He explained that at this point when the far-right opposition is showing clear signs of depletion, it becomes more dangerous as this triggers desperate measures. Earlier, Maduro shared a video showing normal activity in the streets of Caracas as he drove around to monitor the situation personally.
The electrical blackout affects the ability of any citizen to communicate and go about their day-to-day life. Usually, the transmission cells of mobile service providers have a backup energy system that allows them to run for several hours during incidents like this one. However, many Venezuelans complained about the lack of mobile service immediately after this blackout was triggered, raising suspicions about the involvement of telecommunication corporations in this new destabilization attempt.
This Friday morning, despite what some analysts predicted, many people in Caracas went to work like a regular day; transport services operated relatively normally despite the Metro system being out of service. Many businesses were reported to be open during the morning, and people were handling their day-to-day lives, demonstrating the resilience of the Venezuelan people.
Electricity service back in this part of Caracas. Let’s hope it doesn’t go down again.
These are 2 videos we recorded earlier showing the resilience of the Venezuelan people. No pasarán! #sinluz pic.twitter.com/vygaQK8mzd— Orinoco Tribune (@OrinocoTribune) August 30, 2024
The electricity service began to resume in stages in different areas of Venezuela and Caracas this Friday afternoon. Earlier, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello reported that the electric service was being gradually restored in several parts of the country, following strict security protocols to avoid instability in the grid that could lead to new blackouts, as reported by Últimas Noticias.
“At this moment, some sectors of Caracas are beginning to receive electricity, but it is a process that is happening little by little,” he said, adding that the government is taking all possible measures, and that is why some sectors of Caracas are already starting to regain electricity, “because the problem has been addressed immediately by the electric service workers.”
“Our people are in the streets without any problem. The right would like to generate some kind of violence, but they will not succeed. The conscience of this people is above this,” said Cabello, assuring that each aggression will have an immediate response from the government.
Anticoup plan
“We experienced it in 2019. Since then, we know how much it has cost us to recover the National Electric System. Today, we are facing it with an anticoup plan, which is what they have been attempting in Venezuela since before and during July 28,” Minister Ñáñez said.
He added that instead of holding elections on July 28, the far-right Venezuelan opposition strategy “was to destroy our electoral system and provoke violence and death in the streets. They could not do it, not on July 28, nor on July 29, or July 30. They could not do it with deceit, nor with violence, and today, they have attempted a desperate measure to steal peace from Venezuelans.”
A video of María Corina Machado from several months ago trended on social media, showing her likening Maduro’s government to kidnappers whom police must defeat through siege warfare by surrounding them before cutting off access to electricity and water, as reported by Canadian analyst Joe Emersberger.
On August 7, a social media account affiliated with the Anonymous group apologized for an attack that would affect the Venezuelan electrical system. Many analysts have documented the connection of the Anonymous group with US intelligence, such as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Venezuela: Terrorist Attack on Electric System Resulted in Power Failure (+Diosdado Cabello)
Contingency plan activated
Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino announced the activation of the Centella Plan to address the electrical sabotage. In an interview on Venezolana de Televisión (VTV), Padrino explained that this plan is prepared to cover any transportation and patrol situation to support the people in their commuting, pointing out that law enforcement agencies are present in all the streets and alongside the people of Venezuela.
Padrino also reported that electrical workers and engineers were present to respond to the emergency. “The Bolivarian National Armed Force [FANB], through the Strategic Operational Command, immediately activated the territorial defense system and what we call the shock force, which is 100 trained officers and electrical and hydraulic engineers who are activated every time a public service situation occurs,” he said.
He explained that the shock force “is split up, not only dealing with electricity but also with hydroelectric services and other national public services, supporting, coordinating, and interacting with the technical authorities of CORPOELEC and everything related to the matter of electric energy.”
Special for Orinoco Tribune by staff
OT/JRE/SF
