Wall Street Journal
September 3, 2013
By Kejal Vyas
Courtesy of: AFP
CARACAS—A failure in a transmission line cut power across much of Venezuela on Tuesday, leading the government to blame unidentified saboteurs for the widespread disruption.
Electricity outages struck parts of at least 11 of Venezuela’s 23 states in the early afternoon, mostly in the central and western regions, as well as the capital city, Electricity Development Vice Minister Franco Silva said in comments carried on state television.
Information Minister Delcy Rodríguez said in an address about five hours after the initial outage that power had been restored to several states, adding electricity was in the process of coming back online in the oil-rich western states of Zulia and Táchira, and the greater Caracas area.
A shaky power grid remains a thorn in the side of energy-rich Venezuela, leading critics of the current government to point the finger at mismanagement at state-run utility companies. Authorities have periodically turned to power rationing and levied additional surcharges and penalties on heavy electricity users.
Ms. Rodríguez said “complete restoration of this important service will be done in a progressive manner” without specifying how long it would take.
Messages posted on the Twitter account of President Nicolás Maduro said that the power grid was attacked by unnamed enemies of the government.
“It’s evident that behind [the blackout] is the hand of those that want to weaken our country,” said one post. Mr. Maduro didn’t offer evidence to back up his allegations. Calls seeking further comment from officials weren’t immediately returned.
While the government’s detractors accuse authorities of misappropriating investments into the country’s electricity network and falling behind growing consumer demand, the late leader Hugo Chávez often blamed conspirators against his self-styled socialist “Bolivarian revolution.” Mr. Chávez died in March following a nearly two year battle with cancer. Mr. Chávez nationalized much of the electricity sector in 2007.
In recent weeks, his successor Mr. Maduro has disclosed details of various other alleged plots against Venezuela, including several alleged assassination attempts against his life supposedly masterminded by agents of the U.S. and Colombian governments. Critics accuse him of fabricating plots in a bid to boost support.
Venezuela opposition leader Henrique Capriles, who lost April elections to replace Mr. Chávez, said the power failure underscored mismanagement at state companies. “The blackout today demonstrates one more time the terrible incapacity of this government,” Mr. Capriles said in a post on his official Twitter account. “Now they’ll come up with another story to try to cover up the failure.”
In Caracas, the blackouts briefly hit some key government buildings, including the Energy Ministry, which is also the headquarters of state oil company Petróleos de Venezuela, or PdVSA.
In a statement, Oil Minister Rafael Ramírez said refining and production operations in Venezuela’s vital oil industry were unaffected.
The sprawling capital city was furthered tangled by knotted traffic, disrupted subway service and severed water supplies, as several treatment plants went down, authorities said. Power shortfalls and outages are more common in the interior of the country of 29 million residents, while more rarely reaching Caracas.
Between 2009 and 2010, a drought cut production at Venezuela’s hydroelectric facilities that accounted for some 70% of the country’s power. The country has since had to divert more of its crude oil production and imports gas from Colombia to fulfill its own domestic power needs.
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