The power outage impacted various regions throughout the country, including the capital, Caracas, as well as states like Táchira, Mérida, Barinas, and Zulia on Friday morning.
President Nicolás Maduro‘s administration blamed the outage on ‘electrical sabotage’.The government’s statement further accused opposition sectors of attempting to undermine the Venezuelan people’s morale and urged vigilance through the number Ven 911.
In a translated statement, interior minister Diosdado Cabello referred to the outage as a “terrorist attack” on the national electrical system, specifically targeting line 765, according to a US News report. This line affects several states, including Táchira, Mérida, Barinas, Zulia, Falcón, Nueva Esparta, and parts of La Guaira, Miranda, and Caracas. Cabello also said that security agencies are working to manage the consequences of the attack.
Venezuelan Communications minister Freddy Nanez declared on Telegram that “nobody will take away our peace and tranquility of the Venezuelan people,” according to a US News report.
Power began to be restored in some areas of Venezuela on Friday afternoon, including the capital, Caracas.
Recent weeks have seen widespread protests in Venezuela following Maduro’s victory in the presidential election. Protesters took to the streets, demanding transparency and the release of results from each polling station to expose alleged election rigging by Maduro. In contrast, supporters of Maduro organised a counterprotest on August 28, pledging to “defend” his victory against his opponent, Edmundo González.