Blackout lasted more than 10 hours in Venezuelan cities

|| Editorial El Periodiquito / Agencies

At the time of going to press, there were still areas of the country without electricity, but according to national spokespeople, the light began to be restored progressively after 2:00 p.m., almost 10 hours into the second power outage the country has experienced since March 2019, when part of the national territory was left in darkness for three to four days.

Since 4:50 in the morning this Friday the nation began to shut down again. The first to take the floor from the national government was Freddy Ñáñez, Minister of Communications, who reported via Telegram that the eventuality affected “several states in the country, including Greater Caracas.”

He attributed what happened to a “sabotage” which were addressed by state workers, while the electrical cabinet team met to find solutions.

After 9:30 am the official spokesman was Diosdado Cabello, Minister of Interior, Justice and Peace, who revalidated the thesis presented earlier by Ñáñez, stating that “Those behind the new attack will be brought to justice,” although they directly blamed opposition leaders Edmundo González and María Corina Machado.

In his speech, Cabello also confirmed what social media users had already announced: service was beginning to be restored in Greater Caracas. “It will be done gradually throughout the country,” he stated.

However, it was the Internet users themselves who confirmed that “the light came and went” in areas of the Capital District, Miranda and Táchira.

President Nicolás Maduro then used his social networks to send a message to the population, asking them to “calm and sanity, nerves of steel”in the face of the eventuality that he did not hesitate to attribute to a “criminal attack against the national electrical system.”

CALM CITIES

As the hours passed, most citizens tried to continue their routine, amid regular ground transportation services, open shops, drivers trying to organize themselves to navigate the roads between turned-off traffic lights and plazas, as well as shopping centers, where power strips were installed to charge cell phones.

Before noon, Ramon Velasquez Araguayan, Minister of Transport, He said that public transport services and airports remained operational.

According to the minister, national and international airports had sufficient fuel reserves to ensure the continuity of air operations.

Regarding land transportation, Velásquez Araguayán reported that 250 Metrobús buses were available to cover routes in Greater Caracas, given the closure of the metro.

For its part, Vladimir Padrino López, in charge of the Defense Office, announced the activation of the “Plan Centella” which consists, he explained, in making transportation available so that citizens can get around.

He also said that the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB), through the Strategic Operational Command, operated with the territorial defensive system, as well as with a “shock force”, which included a hundred electrical and hydraulic engineering officers, to provide assistance to the various basic services in the country.

Between 2:00 pm and 3:00 pm, the restoration of service in sectors of Amazonas, Bolívar, Falcón, Zulia and Caracas was already announced, which was replicated in the rest of the states, although not in their entirety.

According to the Venezuelan Observatory of Social Conflict, 397 protests occurred throughout the country during the first half of the year, due to constant fluctuations and interruptions in the electricity service.