Power begins to return to parts of Venezuela after mass outage

Nicolas Maduro’s government has blamed sabotage for the nationwide power outages.

Power has begun to return to some parts of Venezuela after its capital Caracas and much of the rest of the country were plunged into a blackout that the government blamed on sabotage.

The country experiences frequent blackouts, which President Nicolas Maduro, who is locked in a dispute with the opposition over the outcome of a July 28 presidential election, often blames on the opposition, accusations they have denied.

“We are reporting that at approximately 4:40am (08:40 GMT) today, Friday, August 30, an electrical sabotage took place in Venezuela … which has affected almost the entire national territory,” Communications Minister Freddy Nanez told the state-run VTV channel.

“All 24 states are reporting total or partial loss of electricity supply,” he said.

By about 1pm local time (16:00 GMT) on Friday, power had returned to some parts of western city Maracaibo, central city Valencia, eastern city Puerto Ordaz and capital Caracas, the Reuters news agency reported, citing witnesses.

Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello told state television on Friday morning that power would return gradually, beginning with the capital.

“It will begin arriving little by little nationally,” Cabello said.

But residents of the country continued bracing for the worst on Friday.

In the western city of Barquisimeto, people were stocking up on fuel and food.

Lawyer Alexa Rivas, 29, avoided what she said were five-kilometre-long (three-mile-long) lines at urban petrol stations by driving to a service station outside the city.

“I can’t be without gasoline, I have a three-year-old boy and my mom is 70, I need to have reserves for any emergency,” she told Reuters.

“We’ve lived through two national blackouts, it makes us very nervous.”

The worst countrywide outage to strike Venezuela, in March 2019, lasted several days. Authorities also attributed those power outages to attacks on the network – such as damage to power lines – by saboteurs and opponents of Maduro’s government.

Nanez called Friday’s outage “a new electrical sabotage.”

“We know what it cost us in 2019. We know what it has cost us to recover the national electric system since then and today we are facing it with the proper protocols.”

He added that the government had put in place “anti-coup protocols” after the blackout, citing the recent July 28 election – the result of which has been widely disputed.

Venezuela’s government and opposition both say their candidate won last month’s election, with the electoral authority and Supreme Court backing Maduro.

Authorities have not yet released full vote tallies despite international calls to do so.

Arrests of opposition figures have risen sharply over the last week.

The opposition’s former presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado are being investigated for incitement and other crimes by Attorney General Tarek Saab.

Gonzalez has ignored two summons to testify about a website where the opposition has posted what it says is more than 80 percent of ballot box vote tallies, which show a resounding win for Gonzalez.

A third citation for Gonzalez was issued for Friday, but it remains unclear if it will be valid amid the blackout.

At least 27 people have been killed – including two military personnel – and almost 200 others have also been wounded, in protest-related violence since the election.