Residents across Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, and various other regions woke up on Friday to a profound darkness caused by a massive power outage.
The Venezuelan administration, led by President Nicolás Maduro, has alleged that this disruption of the power grid was intentional.
Extent of the Outage
This outage impacted at least 13 regions, including Carabobo and Aragua, as reported by Reuters.
Freddy Ñáñez, the Minister of Communication and Information, announced that the power failure was detected around 4:40 a.m. local time.
Claims of Sabotage and Nationwide Impact
“We have been victims, once again of electrical sabotage,” Ñáñez stated during a broadcast on state television. He further revealed that the outage had affected all 24 states, with many experiencing either a complete or partial loss of electricity.
However, Ñáñez did not provide specific evidence to support the claim of deliberate sabotage in a country known for frequent power interruptions, though rarely on such a widespread scale.
Recent Smaller Blackouts
This incident follows a series of smaller blackouts that occurred just a few days earlier on Tuesday.
Ñáñez had also attributed these disruptions to sabotage.
Maduro’s Economic Decline and Opposition Blame
Since taking office in 2013, Maduro has presided over severe economic decline.
He frequently blames the opposition for targeting the power infrastructure, though the opposition consistently denies these allegations.
2019 Nationwide Blackouts
The most recent major power outage occurred in 2019.
During that time, Venezuela experienced three nationwide blackouts, with some lasting up to three days.
Authorities’ Attribution of 2019 Blackouts to Sabotage
At that time, authorities attributed the blackouts to attacks on the power network.
They cited damage to power lines caused by saboteurs and opponents of Maduro’s government.
David Smolansky’s Accusation of Orchestrated Blackout
David Smolansky, who served as mayor of El Hatillo in Caracas from 2014 to 2017 and is now living in exile in Washington, took to social media platform X to comment on the situation.
He suggested that the Maduro administration orchestrated the blackout on August 30, 2024, in a manner similar to the national blackout of March 7, 2019.
A Repeat of 2019 Blackout
“Just as they designed the blackout of March 7, 2019, the regime is repeating another national power outage on August 30, 2024,” Smolansky wrote.
“Leaving hospitals, schools, nursing homes, homes, and businesses without electricity is another crime against humanity; it is State Terrorism.”
Election Results and Ongoing Controversies
In the context of recent political developments, Venezuela’s National Electoral Council declared Maduro the winner of the July 28 presidential election.
However, complete voting tallies have not yet been released.
Opposition’s Counterclaims
In contrast, opposition groups have published their own figures.
These figures indicate a significant victory for their candidate, Edmundo González.
Social Media Videos Show Cities in Darkness
On Friday, several videos surfaced on social media depicting cities plunged into darkness.
Reuters has not yet been able to verify the authenticity of these videos.
