Dive Summary:
- Power outages disrupted electrical service to 70% of Venezuela on Tuesday. President Nicolás Maduro took to Twitter to blame the outages on "sabotage" and "a low-level war" on "the revolution."
- "At this hour, all signs indicate that the extreme right has implemented its plan to carry out an Electrical Coup against the nation,” one of Maduro's tweets read.
- According to Gulf News, Venezuelan authorities cited two downed power lines as the reason the country's main power distribution network failed. Power was restored Tuesday night.
A esta hora todo parece indicar que la extrema derecha a retomado su plan de Golpe Eléctrico contra el país.Alerta y Activos los Venceremos.
— Nicolás Maduro (@NicolasMaduro) September 3, 2013
From the article:
The electrical energy minister, Jesse Chacón, appeared on state TV to explain that the failure was in the "backbone" that carries electricity from the Bajo Caroni region, where 60% of Venezuela's power is generated.
President Nicolás Maduro said on Tuesday night that 14 of 23 states had lost power for much of the day and blamed "sabotage", suggesting opposition groups were responsible. He said service had been progressively restored with some exceptions, including the oil-producing state of Zulia. Maduro blamed "the extreme rightwing", as he has in the past, via Twitter.