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Venezuela Suffers Nationwide Blackout in Latest Power Outage

posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday July 23 2019, @11:11AM   
from the keeping-the-lights-on dept.

martyb writes:

Venezuela Suffers Nationwide Blackout in Latest Power Outage:

Venezuela has suffered a nationwide power cut, including the capital, Caracas, which the country's Information Minister Jorge Rodriguez said was caused by an "electromagnetic attack".

[...] The lights went out in most of Caracas at 4:41pm (20:41 GMT) while people in other parts of the country took to social media to report the power had gone out there too in the first major blackout since March.

"These blackouts are catastrophic," said 51-year-old janitor Bernardina Guerra, who lives in Caracas. "I live in the eastern part of the city and there the lights go out every day. Each day things are worse."

At least 14 Venezuelan states lost power on Monday, according to Reuters witnesses and reports on social media.

The state-owned power company Corpolec only reported a breakdown affecting sectors of the capital, Caracas.

[...] Blackouts are a common occurrence in Venezuela, especially in remote western regions.

The government usually blames them on sabotage but experts say that a lack of investment, poor management and corruption are the more likely culprits.

The oil-rich country's hyperinflationary economic crisis has led to widespread shortages in food and medicine, prompting more than four million Venezuelans to leave the country.

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Original Submission

• Trust the government.The government is your friend Trust the government.The government is your friend (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 23 2019, @12:00PM (2 children)

  by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 23 2019, @12:00PM (#870292)

  This sounds like a run-of-the-mill Paranoia scenario, if you replace the government officials with The Computer. Our failures can't possibly be due to mismanagement, because we are infallible. It must be those damn terrorists again!

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• Re:Trust the government.The government is your fri Re:Trust the government.The government is your fri (Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 23 2019, @01:10PM (1 child)

  by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 23 2019, @01:10PM (#870306)

  Millions without electrical power in Michigan and northeast US [wsws.org]:

  ...The Detroit city government has virtually ignored the blackout and not organized any emergency relief effort for those affected, including tens of thousands of children, elderly and infirm. As of this writing, neither the city administration nor the office of Mayor Mike Duggan has issued a statement regarding a blackout that has impacted the entire city. Instead, the city's Democratic Party political establishment has been celebrating the opening of the 110th National Convention of the NAACP at Cobo Center, where power was restored immediately.

  DTE Energy and the New York utility Con Edison alike attempted to blame the extreme weather patterns--thunderstorms with winds gusting up to 70 mph and heatwaves with record day and nighttime temperatures--for the widespread blackouts, as if July weather patterns in the US northeast and Midwest could not be foreseen.

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  • Re:Trust the government.The government is your fri (Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday July 23 2019, @02:08PM

    by khallow (3766) on Tuesday July 23 2019, @02:08PM (#870325) Journal

    Detroit has this problem too? What a coincidence!

    Parent