Maduro calls for maximum sentence for prisoners accused of alleged opposition plans for electrical sabotage

Caracas, Jul 9 (EFE).- Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday called for the maximum sentence – 30 years in prison – for the group of people he said have been arrested for their involvement in an alleged plan by the majority opposition sector to sabotage the electrical system.

“Right now they are engaged in this, (in) an electrical war once morest transformers, (…) transmission throughout the country. We already have several prisoners (…) and I ask the Attorney General to sentence them to 30 years for treason (to the country) and terrorism,” said the head of state at an event with his followers in a coastal region in the northeast of the country, broadcast by the state channel VTV.

According to Maduro, a candidate for re-election in the presidential elections on July 28, “the right” intended to carry out an “attack on the electrical system” in order to then “blame” the government and “deceive” the population regarding the cause of the service failures.

In this regard, the Chavista leader – in power since 2013 – said that “the right” represents – he said, without giving names – “hatred, harm and deceit”, and reiterated his accusation once morest this opposition sector of having asked for “sanctions once morest the economy” that “took away 99% of the country’s income”, and then saying that it was “Maduro’s fault”.

Last June, the head of state accused the opposition of preparing an “electrical war” following seeing themselves “lost” in the elections, in which, in addition to Maduro and eight other opposition candidates, former ambassador Edmundo González Urrutia will compete, standard-bearer of the main anti-Chavez bloc, the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD).

The president then claimed to have “first-hand information (which he did not provide) regarding the secret conversations of the fascist far-right groups” – as he usually calls the PUD – to prepare “an offensive” once morest the electrical service, for which he ordered the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) to implement a plan of “24-hour patrol and surveillance in all facilities” of the system.

Venezuela has been facing power outages for years, which the government blames on planned attacks, mainly from the United States, the opposition and international sanctions.

However, experts insist that this crisis is the result of a lack of maintenance and investment in the system.

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