Lights Go Out Again in Venezuela Prior to The Protests Against Blackouts

Most Venezuelans will go to bed tonight again in the dark by a  power outage  that near 19:00 local time (23.00 GMT) put out millions of homes in Caracas and in almost all of the 23 states of the Caribbean country. The ruling comes a day before the protest called by the opposition leader, Juan Guaidó, recognized as interim president of Venezuela by some 60 nations, to reject the increase in  blackouts that only this month have paralyzed the country for 10 days.
So far, the government of Nicolás Maduro has not spoken of the most recent blackout, which, according to his own accounts, comes after four  “sabotages”  occurred between March 7 and 25, all responsibility of the Venezuelan opposition and the Administration of the United States, according to Chavez.

 

The night of this Friday there was an intermittence during several seconds that finally extinguished the light in communities of eastern states such as Anzoategui, in the west as Zulia, in the north as Aragua and those near Caracas: Miranda and Vargas. Local media and antichavism leaders say that 21 of the 23 states in the country have been affected by this latest blackout, a figure similar to those recorded in the cut of day 7, which lasted a week, or 25, which was resolved after 72 hours.

 

Guaidó, head of the Venezuelan Parliament, led Friday an event in the west of Caracas in which he reiterated his call to protest tomorrow across the country against the blackouts and against the usurpation that Nicolás Maduro considers of the Presidency. In that act, a group of people who identified themselves as sympathizers of the ruling party activated a tear gas bomb and harangued against the followers of Guaidó who ended the meeting unharmed and celebrated the announcement of the imminent entry into the country of humanitarian aid.

 

Humanitarian aid

The president of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (FICR), Francesco Rocca, announced yesterday in Caracas that within fifteen days the organization will have the capacity to distribute the humanitarian aid that “Venezuela needs” so much.  At a press conference, he said that he hopes to be able to help some 650,000 Venezuelans in vulnerability as a first objective but that he hopes to expand the number in the near future. He explained that the delivery of the aid will be coordinated only by integrated entities to the IFRC without accepting the interference of other sectors.

 

For his part, the Venezuelan economic vice president, Tareck el Aissami, received at the Simon Bolivar International Airport, which serves Caracas, 65 tons of medicines and medical materials brought from China that, he explained, are part of the cooperation program between Caracas and Beijing.  In the opinion of the team of Guaidó, these announcements constitute a victory for him since he swore to assume as president in charge last January promised the entry of food and medicines that are scarce in Venezuela.

 

Until now it is unknown if the donations of drugs and food that have been accumulating in the borders of Venezuela for two months, and that the so-called Bolivarian revolution has insisted on refusing to consider that they are part of a political show against them, will be part of of the donations that the IFRC will distribute.

 

Chavismo also plans to demonstrate this Saturday throughout the country to show solidarity to Maduro and reject the “terrorist acts” that he considers perpetrated by the ideological enemies of the revolution.

 

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