CARACAS, Venezuela: A widespread new power outage spread across Venezuela on Monday, knocking offline much of the country’s communications and stirring fears of a repeat of the chaos almost two weeks ago during the nation’s largest-ever blackout.
The outage began shortly after 1 p.m. (1700 GMT) and appeared to have affected as many as 16 of Venezuela’s 23 states, according to reports on social media.
Like the previous outage, officials blamed opponents who with the support of the US had carried out sabotage on the Guri dam — source of the bulk of Venezuela’s electricity. They said the “attack” had already been controlled, with service restored in much of the country already and remaining areas expected to come online in the coming hours.
“The damage that took 5 or 6 days to repair in the electrical system after the first attack carried out by the right-wing we recovered today in a few hours,” Communications Minister Jorge Rodriguez said in a televised address.
But those reassurances, similar to ones last time around, did little to calm the anger of residents in Caracas who even as he was talking filled traffic-clogged streets as they walked their way home after subway service in the capital was suspended
Like other small business owners, 27-year-old restaurant manager Lilian Hernandez was bracing for the worst even as service started flickering back on in parts of Caracas.
“We Venezuelans suffer all kinds of problems,” said Hernandez, who had just recently managed to restock food that spoiled during the previous outage. “We need a real solution that doesn’t obey to political interests.”
Netblocks, a non-government group based in Europe that monitors Internet censorship, said outage had knocked offline around 57 percent of Venezuela’s telecommunications infrastructure.
The Trump administration, which has made no secret of its desire to remove the embattled socialist, has denied any role in the outages. Electricity experts and opposition leader Juan Guaido faults years of government graft and incompetence.
“This outage is evidence that the dictator is incapable of resolving the crisis,” Guaido wrote on Twitter Monday.
Meanwhile, as Venezuela’s economic and political crisis deepens, many seem resigned to continuous disruptions in their daily routines.
“The important thing is for people not to get desperate,” said William Rodriguez, who sells books at a kiosk under a downtown highway overpass.
Meanwhile, the US government warned Russia that the reported dispatch of military personnel to Venezuela was increasing tensions there.
US State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday and said “the United States and regional countries will not stand idly by” while Russia takes steps to support its ally, Maduro.
Pompeo’s call came after a Venezuelan official said Russian aircraft arrived in Caracas this weekend as part of ongoing military cooperation. Reports that two Russian air force planes arrived could not be independently confirmed.
The US and dozens of other countries support Guaido, who says Maduro’s re-election last year was rigged. Maduro alleges the US and Guaido are plotting a coup.
Large new blackout strikes Venezuelan capital, provinces
Large new blackout strikes Venezuelan capital, provinces
- Pompeo’s call came after a Venezuelan official said Russian aircraft arrived in Caracas this weekend as part of ongoing military cooperation
Ukraine toils to restore power and heat, Zelensky warns of new attack
- Russia has systematically attacked Ukraine’s energy system since it invaded its neighbor in 2022 and the air strikes have intensified in recent months
KYIV: Emergency crews toiled to restore heat and power to beleaguered Kyiv residents on Monday, more than three days after Russian strikes on energy targets, and President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that new air attacks could be imminent.
Officials said hundreds of apartment blocks in the capital remained without heat despite round-the-clock efforts by the crews. Humanitarian centers, dubbed “resilience points,” were open for people to keep warm and charge electronic devices.
Russia has systematically attacked Ukraine’s energy system since it invaded its neighbor in 2022 and the air strikes have intensified in recent months.
Zelensky, speaking in his nightly video address, said a program was being launched to raise wages and provide support for participants in emergency work brigades.
He issued a new warning to heed air raid alerts as night-time temperatures sank to minus 15 Celsius (5 F) or lower.
“There is intelligence information. The Russians are preparing a new massive strike,” he said.
“Drones to exhaust air defense systems and missiles. They want to take advantage of the cold. The strike may occur in the coming days. Please take care of yourselves. Protect Ukraine.”
Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba, writing on Telegram, said 90 percent of Kyiv’s apartment buildings have had heating restored, leaving fewer than 500 dwellings still to be connected.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko put the number with no heating at 800, most on the west bank of the Dnipro River. He said a meeting of the Kyiv city council would be convened on Thursday to debate the most pressing issues facing residents.
Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, presenting the program for bonus payments, said the work conducted by emergency crews stood “at the very limit of human endurance, often involving life-threatening risks across the entire country.
“This applies to specialists who, in freezing conditions, go directly to the sites of strikes and restore supplies of heat, electricity, water and gas.”
Residents made their way to one of the humanitarian centers on the east bank of the river in the evening — two tents pitched on a small area of open ground.
They charged their devices and chatted, while outside, the din of whining generators filled the air.
“It’s dark in the apartment. I have an electric stove, so it’s impossible to heat up lunch or dinner, or make tea,” said Kateryna Zubko, 67, an engineer who has lived without power, heating and water since the latest attack.
“We support each other. Ukrainians are such resilient people, I think that this war will end someday, it can’t go on forever.”
