Venezuela: Cabinet Minister blames power outages in the country on 'terrorist attack'

On Sunday, several states in Venezuela lost power supply due to an explosion at a substation in the state of Aragua. General Nestor Reverol, the Interior Minister and Commander of the National Guard stated that an attack on Venezuela's National Electric System was part of a bigger "sabotage operation" against the country.

Reverol told VTV over the phone that they want to report a new attack on the national electrical grid as a part of this ongoing sabotage plan and the multiform war that they have been receiving. The minister was indicating a "terrorist attack" against Venezuela, according to VTV.

An alleged attack exploded a transformer at the Argua substation

The Cabinet Minister also said that the alleged attack exploded a transformer at the Aragua substation in the Jose Angel Lamas municipality. As a result, power disruptions have been reported in several states, including Zulia, Táchira, Nueva Esparta, Merida, and Falcon, according to Sputnik.

Reverol further announced that the power supply in the capital region was restored, and officials were working to repair damage in other areas. He praised firemen for their quick response in putting out the fire at the Aragua substation.

According to VTV, the minister stated that "the electrical war" was simply one of the many components of Venezuela's multiform conflict. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro claimed in October last year that the country's Amuay Refinery had been the victim of a "terrorist strike" carried out by a "big and powerful" weapon.

Maduro and other Venezuelan leaders have previously accused the US of "sabotage" of the country's infrastructure, resulting in power outages and famine, according to Sputnik. They blamed an outage at the Guri Dam hydroelectric facility in March 2019 on "American imperialism." Over a year later, right before the Amuay incident, Venezuela's senior prosecutor accused an American citizen of plotting damage on oil refineries and electrical utilities in the country.

The US has been escalating sanctions against Venezuela for the past 15 years

Since the 2019 election, the US has opposed Nicolas Maduro's presidency, recognising Juan Guaido, the then-president of Venezuela's National Assembly as the country's self-proclaimed interim president. For the past 15 years, the US has been escalating sanctions against Venezuela "in response to President Nicolas Maduro's rising authoritarianism," as a part of its push for a power shift in the country, according to Sputnik.

Image: @ms_duckworth/Twitter, AP