In Venezuela, a massive blackout occurred within a few weeks. In many parts of the South American country, the electricity supply collapsed on Monday – including in many quarters of the capital Caracas. According to the non-governmental organization Netblocks fell 57 percent of the power supply.
„We have again fallen victim to an attack on the transmission center of our state power grid,“ said Communications Minister Jorge Rodríguez on television. Already in the power outage three weeks ago, when the electricity supply had failed for several days, the government had rejected all guilt. President Nicolás Maduro blamed US and opposition cyber attacks for the collapse of the energy supply.
The opponents of the government around the self-proclaimed transitional president Juan Guaodó, however, spoke of retarded investments, corruption and inadequate maintenance of the facilities. „This blackout is proof that the dictator is unable to solve the crisis,“ wrote Guaidó on Twitter.
Guaidó had declared Venezuelan interim president in January and has been fighting for power since 2013 with Maduro, the ruling leader since 2013. He is supported in his attempt to depower Maduro by the US and around 50 other states worldwide.
