The Stig
09-04-2013, 09:37 PM
Original story HERE (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/venezuela/10285147/Most-of-Venezuela-hit-by-blackout.html) at the Telegraph
Most of Venezuela hit by blackout
Large swaths of Venezuela have been paralysed by an electricity blackout that brought chaos to the capital and fuelled public anger at the government’s failure to keep the lights on in the oil-rich nation.
Reuters
12:06AM BST 04 Sep 2013
At least 70 per cent of the country was plunged into darkness after the main electricity distribution network collapsed, a fact Nicolas Maduro, the country’s leftist president, blamed on “sabotage” by his Right-wing enemies.
The capital, Caracas, saw scenes of pandemonium as traffic lights failed on roads already snarled with traffic. Authorities had to rescue passengers from trains stuck in tunnels on the city’s metro system. While energy was restored in Caracas by Tuesday night, Venezuelans across the country took to Twitter to complain of continuing outages on Wednesday.
“Our country is falling to pieces,” one resident of the western state of Tachira, Jesus Salcedo, wrote, using the now popular hashtag #VenezuelaSinLuz (Venezuela without light).
Despite sitting on the world’s largest reserves of oil and gas, the country’s Socialist government is increasingly struggling to ensure electricity reaches its own populace. Power failures are commonplace, and rolling cuts are often programmed to try and cope with shortfalls in supply.
Mr Maduro, who took the reins of the country’s Socialist government after the death of Hugo Chavez in March, insisted the blackout was the result of a plot by the extreme Right to mount an “electrical strike” against the country.
In an evening address on state television, Mr Maduro claimed the power cut was “part of a low-level war” on the “revolution” begun by Mr Chavez. He provided no evidence of any sabotage, but said he ordered the military to “protect the entire country” while power was restored.
It was a familiar explanation from a government which regularly alleges conspiracies against its Socialist project. But it was received with incredulity by many Venezuelans who blame the government’s lack of investment in a decaying energy infrastructure.
“Venezuelans deserve to have a country without blackouts, where inversion is made in maintenance, in resolving the crisis!,” Henrique Capriles Radonski, the leader of the opposition alliance, said. He insisted the outage was the result of government “incapacity”, accusing them of inventing “another tale to try and cover up failure”.
Venezuela is highly dependent on oil income, which Mr Chavez and his successor have poured into social programmes aimed at improving the lot of the poor. But critics say that economic mismanagement has crippled many industries, noting regular shortages in water and basic foodstuffs.
In 2010, Mr Chavez declared an “energy emergency” amid nationwide blackouts that shut down school and businesses and left hospitals struggling to keep patients alive.
Most of Venezuela hit by blackout
Large swaths of Venezuela have been paralysed by an electricity blackout that brought chaos to the capital and fuelled public anger at the government’s failure to keep the lights on in the oil-rich nation.
Reuters
12:06AM BST 04 Sep 2013
At least 70 per cent of the country was plunged into darkness after the main electricity distribution network collapsed, a fact Nicolas Maduro, the country’s leftist president, blamed on “sabotage” by his Right-wing enemies.
The capital, Caracas, saw scenes of pandemonium as traffic lights failed on roads already snarled with traffic. Authorities had to rescue passengers from trains stuck in tunnels on the city’s metro system. While energy was restored in Caracas by Tuesday night, Venezuelans across the country took to Twitter to complain of continuing outages on Wednesday.
“Our country is falling to pieces,” one resident of the western state of Tachira, Jesus Salcedo, wrote, using the now popular hashtag #VenezuelaSinLuz (Venezuela without light).
Despite sitting on the world’s largest reserves of oil and gas, the country’s Socialist government is increasingly struggling to ensure electricity reaches its own populace. Power failures are commonplace, and rolling cuts are often programmed to try and cope with shortfalls in supply.
Mr Maduro, who took the reins of the country’s Socialist government after the death of Hugo Chavez in March, insisted the blackout was the result of a plot by the extreme Right to mount an “electrical strike” against the country.
In an evening address on state television, Mr Maduro claimed the power cut was “part of a low-level war” on the “revolution” begun by Mr Chavez. He provided no evidence of any sabotage, but said he ordered the military to “protect the entire country” while power was restored.
It was a familiar explanation from a government which regularly alleges conspiracies against its Socialist project. But it was received with incredulity by many Venezuelans who blame the government’s lack of investment in a decaying energy infrastructure.
“Venezuelans deserve to have a country without blackouts, where inversion is made in maintenance, in resolving the crisis!,” Henrique Capriles Radonski, the leader of the opposition alliance, said. He insisted the outage was the result of government “incapacity”, accusing them of inventing “another tale to try and cover up failure”.
Venezuela is highly dependent on oil income, which Mr Chavez and his successor have poured into social programmes aimed at improving the lot of the poor. But critics say that economic mismanagement has crippled many industries, noting regular shortages in water and basic foodstuffs.
In 2010, Mr Chavez declared an “energy emergency” amid nationwide blackouts that shut down school and businesses and left hospitals struggling to keep patients alive.