Power failure leaves much of the country in the dark

YURI CORTEZ | AFP

A couple walks along a street during a power cut in Caracas on March 7, 2019. – The government of Nicolas Maduro denounced a ‘sabotage’ against the main electric power dam in the country, after a massive blackout left Caracas and vast regions of Venezuela in the darkness.

Guaido said on Friday that the power failure was a matter of “chaos, concern and indignation” and “evidence of the usurper’s inefficiency.”

“Light would return” once Maduro was finally removed from power, he added.

Venezuela’s domestic electricity supply is largely dependent on its vast hydroelectric infrastructure, rather than its oil reserves.

However, rolling blackouts and water shortages have become a near daily occurrence in recent years, after a sustained period of economic mismanagement.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said via Twitter on Friday that the “incompetence” of Maduro’s regime was solely to blame for the “power outage and devastation hurting ordinary Venezuelans.”

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“No food. No medicine. Now, no power. Next, no Maduro,” Pompeo said.