Monday 11 March 2019

Venezuelan power outage ‘act of political sabotage’

A widespread power outage affecting number of cities across Venezuela has been blamed on political sabotage.

President Nicolás Maduro tweeted that the opposition party, the National Assembly of Venezuela, had sabotaged electrical systems in a bid to cause dissatisfaction and disorder.

Meanwhile, the US-backed opposition trying to oust him responded by blaming the President for the situation.

The power cuts have now entered their fourth day after continuing through the weekend.

The main issues are reportedly to have been caused by problems at a major hydroelectric plant - blackouts are relatively commonplace in the South American nation due to under-investment in the country's power infrastructure.

In Caracas' University Hospital, a 25-year-old patient Marielsi Aray died after her respirator stopped working and a number of other people are said to have died due to kidney dialysis machines being disabled.

Looting has also been reported across several major cities.