Nationwide Blackout Leaves 65% of Venezuelan States in the Dark

TOPSHOT - People line up to board a bus during a new power outage in Caracas, on March 30,
YURI CORTEZ/AFP via Getty
Ben Kew

At least 15 of Venezuela’s 23 states woke up without access to electricity on Wednesday after another power outage occurred in the early hours of the morning.

According to local media, the affected entities included the states Nueva Esparta, Zulia, Táchira, Mérida, Lara, Falcón, Miranda, Carabobo, Yaracuy, and some areas of the capital Caracas. There were also reports of minor disruption in the states of Bolívar and Barinas.

Although power had been restored by mid-morning, another blackout took place around 3 p.m., affecting 15 states across the country, many of whom lost access to the internet.

By late afternoon on Wednesday, neither Minister of Energy Freddy Brito nor any other representative of Nicolás Maduro’s regime had explained why it had occurred.

Venezuela has been afflicted by power outages since March this year, when around 70 percent of the country received little to no electricity for nearly a week. Maduro repeatedly accused the United States of being behind the attack, despite failing to provide evidence of such claims.

In July, the country was hit by another round of blackouts, which the regime blamed on a supposed “electromagnetic attack” against the country’s national electric grid. Soon after, Maduro announced a plan to ration electricity across Venezuela, with the capital Caracas prioritized to relieve pressure in the city whose interests remain crucial to his survival.

Blackouts are known to wreak havoc across the country, already suffering under the burden of one of the world’s most pressing economic and humanitarian crises. When blackouts occur, they force the closure of many essential public services such as schools and hospitals and affect necessities such as the water supply, air conditioning, and the internet.

As reported by Venezuelan citizen and resident Christian K. Caruzo for Breitbart News last month, the country has had problems with maintaining a functional power grid dating back decades, although such issues have dramatically worsened since socialist revolutionary dictator Hugo Chávez nationalized the country’s electric sector.

“Caracas felt like a ghost town. You couldn’t hear a single thing, not even gunfire and car alarms — quintessential sounds that one often hears through the night,” he described. “It was as if we were all collectively going through a bizarre mass solitary confinement.”

“Water distribution was disrupted, people desperately sought for it, even in sewer drains. Telecommunications, as well – we were essentially disconnected from the world,” he explained. “We couldn’t even access our money since the banking network was offline.”

Follow Ben Kew on Facebook, Twitter at @ben_kew, or email him at bkew@breitbart.com

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