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Monday, September 13, 2021

Terrorist attack results in electricity blackout in Venezuela: Official

While at least seven states experienced partial power outages, another seven had problems with internet connection.

• September 13, 2021
Power Grid
Power Grid used to illustrate the story (Credit: Nigerian Guardian)

Venezuela’s electricity minister, Nestor Revelor, on Monday, said terrorists attacked the country’s power system resulting in power outages in several parts of the country, including the capital city of Caracas.

Local media reported on Sunday that at least seven states, Zulia, Merida, Tachira, Aragua, Carabobo, Nueva Esparta, and Falcon experienced a partial power outage. Seven other states experienced problems with internet connectivity.

The power outage problems were caused by an explosion at a big substation in the city of Santa Cruz in the Aragua state, the minister said and noted that the transformer was attacked.

“We want to report on a new attack on the country’s national electric system. The act was a “terrorist attack”, Mr Revelor admitted.

“Fortunately, we have already restored the power supply in the area of the metropolitan district and we are currently in the process of fully renovating the supply of electricity in the states of Zulia, Tachira, Nueva Esparta which suffered from the blow,” he added.

In March 2019, Venezuela experienced two big-scale power outages. The first was an accident at the country’s largest hydroelectric station at the Guri Dam on March 7.

It led to the biggest blackout in the country’s history, leaving 20 of the 23 states with no electricity.

On March 25, the country suffered another major blackout with disruption to electricity in 21 states.

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