CARACAS: Venezuela was plunged into darkness following a widespread blackout early Friday morning, said Communications Minister Freddy Nanez. He attributed the outage to “sabotage” of the national electrical grid.
Nanez reported on state-run VTV channel that the blackout, which began around 4:40 am local time (0840 GMT), has affected nearly the entire country. “All 24 states are experiencing total or partial loss of electricity,” he said.
This incident follows a major nationwide blackout in March 2019, which lasted several days. Regions such as Tachira and Zulia, historically significant in the oil industry, face frequent power outages.
President Nicolas Maduro’s government has previously blamed such power failures on alleged conspiracies by the United States and political opponents. In contrast, opposition leaders and experts attribute the blackouts to corruption, inadequate investment, and a lack of technical expertise.
“We are confronting this new incident of electrical sabotage with the appropriate protocols,” Nanez stated, reflecting on the challenges faced since the 2019 crisis.
