A blackout hit 70% of the country for at least three hours, reports the BBC. Venezuela is in the dark, including some areas of the capital Caracas. Everything is off, even the traffic lights, only the headlights of the cars that wander in the chaos, swallowed up by darkness, give light. Problems also for public transport, with the subway running in fits and starts.
Thousands of workers have been sent home. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has accused the opposition of "sabotaging" power lines. It appears that "the far right has revived its plans to block the nation's energy," he said in a tweet.
In an intervention on state television, the president also added that the blackouts would be part of "a low-voltage war" against the nation.
Maduro showed no evidence of the sabotage but asked the army to protect the whole country. Opposition leader Henrique Capriles responded by saying the government was trying to divert attention from the country's problems with conspiracy theories.
The blackout hit much of Venezuela for at least three hours, then electricity gradually returned. No effect, it seems, on the oil industry: the refineries use independent current generators.
Government officials have in the past stated that high energy consumption and poor condition of transmission lines have often led to outages. In 2010, then-President Hugo Chavez signed a decree declaring an "energy emergency."
Opposition is stiff: Chavez and his successor may have spent billions of dollars on programs for the poor, but they haven't invested in the electricity infrastructure needed to meet growing demand. Even though Venezuela has large deposits of oil, it is 70% dependent on hydroelectricity. Blackouts are quite common, particularly in the interior parts of the country, but they rarely affect the capital.
