Blackout strikes Venezuela again as earlier cases blamed on ‘sabotage'

Venezuela suffered another blackout, with Caracas and other areas around the country reporting a loss of power shortly before midnight on Tuesday.

The mayor of the Bolivarian Libertador Municipality, Érika Farías Peña, tweeted: “at this time a new impact on the electric service is reported, not only in Caracas, but also in various regions of the country. The first call to keep calm, STEEL NERVES.”

However, within minutes reports came in that the power was starting to gradually return. A member of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) said workers in the service areas were working on fixing the issue and that hospitals had alternative systems set up to provide power, Telesur reports.

At 1:20am, Farías Pena shared footage of the lights back on Caracas, saying it had returned to 16 parishes.

The power outage comes after the country suffered a series of blackouts last month, including a massive blackout on March 7, which lasted for five days and disrupted the country, with internet, phone lines, water, and public transport services affected.

President Nicolas Maduro said the blackout was the work of the Venezuela opposition with help from the US in a bid to sabotage the government. The opposition, meanwhile, claimed it was as a result of a “lack of maintenance.” Maduro implemented an electricity rationing plan to stabilize the electricity system in response to the blackouts.

El Mercio reports opposition leader Juan Guaidó had called for protests on Wednesday against the collapse of basic services before the blackout struck.

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