Blackouts are acts of sabotage

Venezuela is again suffering from a bout of daily electricity blackouts in several regions, including Caracas. As it has done many times before, the government is claiming “the right” is sabotaging the electricity grid and power stations.

President Maduro yesterday accused “elements of the right” of provoking an explosion at a power station in the state of Táchira. “I warned about this a week ago, the battered right [derecho maltrecha] is not in an electoral campaign, it is waging a terrorist campaign, it has an invisible campaign to harm the people,” said Maduro.

Electricity Minister Luis Motta Domínguez seconded Maduro and said “sectors of the right” are to blame for the explosion at the power station: “they are increasing the attack together with a media campaign to discredit the workers of CORPOELEC [public electricity company].” The Minister believes that it is not a coincidence that “blackouts have increased only two months before the [December legislative] elections.”