Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro at the Command Post in Miraflores Palace, Caracas, August 30, 2024. Photo: X/@MijpVzla.
The president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, stated that the attack on the National Electrical System was aimed at destroying the Guri Dam that provides hydroelectric power to most of the country.
During a meeting at the Presidential Command Post in Miraflores Palace on Friday, August 30, President Maduro took stock of the results of the plans implemented to restore electrical service in the 21 states affected by the attack on the National Electrical System (SEN).
“They attacked the transmission systems, but because of the protections that have been applied to the generation system, they were unable to reach it,” he said. “According to the specialists who investigated what happened, the sabotage could be described as the mother of all sabotages against Guri Dam, whose objective was destroying the Guri system. It is an attack filled with hate. There is no limit.”
“If the attack was of such magnitude, then it means that the protection system of the Guri worked properly to defend it,” he added. “There is a lot of money behind the sabotage as well as a lot of hatred, and I am sure it originated in the US.”
President Maduro said that Venezuela is now at peace. “I congratulate the implementation of the Centella Plan to patrol and protect the people, the plans are prepared, well-oiled and activated. Our people went out to work, we saw it on TV during the day,” he said.
The president explained that this new attack on the SEN, which occurred at 4:48 am on Friday, has several characteristics. The Guri was attacked again, but the compromised mechanisms that exist inside and near the dam have already been identified, as well as the way the attack was carried out. He added that the matter is under investigation “in order to achieve justice.”
“We have already experienced this script,” the president stated. “In 2019, it was the era of GuaidĂł’s failed conspiracy, then the investigation was carried out and it was confirmed that the attack was aimed at the heart of Guri, to destroy the electrical generation system. It was attacked on March 7, 8 and 9, 2019 in a brutal and surprising way, and then in April, it was attacked again, before the coup attempt in 2019.”
He said that before the March 2019 attack, commentators and influencers were announcing a major attack, a war against the people, underestimating the awareness of the Venezuelan people, “the civic-military union to face threats and overcome them, for the people’s right to sovereignty, peace and independence.”
President Maduro reported that the same modus operandi was applied this time and that eight minutes before the attack occurred, one of those influencers announced on social media “blackout in Venezuela,” with the hashtag #VenezuelaSinLuz.
“On March 7, 2019, just two hours after the attack on Guri, GuaidĂł tweeted the threat ‘Venezuela is clear that light will come back when the usurpation ceases,'” President Maduro described. “They had called for a march to Miraflores that Saturday. Just like now, the Lima Group and the vassals of the US empire intended to carry out an assault on Miraflores, but thanks to the best minds of the country, that virus was destroyed, and that Saturday when they were planning an assault and a large mobilization on Miraflores, electricity was restored, and there was a huge mobilization in support of the Bolivarian revolution.”
“We have already seen this movie before and we know its happy ending for the people of Venezuela,” he added.
Caracas Defeats Electrical Sabotage: Residents Go to Work as Usual
President Maduro went on to state that according to reports from Vice President Delcy RodrĂguez and Minister of Public Works and Services Jorge Márquez, the protection systems worked and preserved the Guri Dam. “Investigations are progressing, we are taking care of all the details to restore normality,” he said.
However, he commented that he was keeping technical details to himself, “because there is a war room of fascists” who are in the US, against whom he asked for justice on behalf of the Venezuelan people.
“We are in better shape than when we were attacked during the GuaidĂł era,” he stressed.
President Maduro also reported that two days before the presidential elections, on July 26, a gang “from Norte de Santander [Colombia] was captured in Ureña, Táchira state, that had destabilization plans and was bringing in equipment and money to burn and catastrophically destroy the electrical substation” in that border town.
(Alba Ciudad) with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SC
