No End in Sight to Venezuela’s Blackout, Experts Warn

3/11/19
VALLE DE LA PASCUA, Venezuela — Sporadic looting and spontaneous protests. Desperate patients begging doctors to be kept alive. “We’re going to arrive at a moment when we’re going to eat each other,” said Zuly González, 40, a resident of Caracas’s Chacao neighborhood. On Thursday, the San Geronimo B substation in the center of the country, which supplies electricity to four out of five Venezuelans from the massive Guri hydropower plant, went down. No date has been set to restart the plant and most workers were told to stay home on Monday, said two of the substation’s workers and a manager at the national power monopoly, Corpoelec. Their names have been withheld to protect them from government reprisals. The nearby San Geronimo A backup substation, which transmits much weaker current from the smaller Matagua hydropower plant, operated intermittently on Sunday. Supplies from Matagua and a few unreliable thermoelectric plants allowed the government to send sporadic power to Caracas throughout the day. The government said the blackout was caused by an unspecified fault at Guri, which provides 80 percent of the country’s electricity. Mr. Maduro and his ministers have insisted the blackout is the result of sabotage and cyberattacks organized by the United States and the opposition, without providing any evidence. Energy experts, Venezuelan power sector contractors and current and former Corpoelec employees have dismissed accusations of sabotage, saying the blackout was the result of years of under-investment, corruption and brain drain.

The San Geronimo B substation connects eight out of Venezuela’s 10 largest cities to the Guri hydropower plant via one of the longest high-voltage lines in the world. When visited on Sunday, the substation’s usual buzz of high-voltage cross currents had been replaced by total silence. A cow roamed amid the transformers. Several National Guard soldiers and a unit of police commandos were at the substation, but no employees were there. What caused the blackout has been a source of speculation. A Corpoelec union leader, Ali Briceño, told reporters on Friday that a brush fire under a power trunk line destabilized the grid and caused Guri’s turbines to shut down. The government has struggled to restart the turbines since, he said. What caused the blackout has been a source of speculation. A Corpoelec union leader, Ali Briceño, told reporters on Friday that a brush fire under a power trunk line destabilized the grid and caused Guri’s turbines to shut down. The government has struggled to restart the turbines since, he said. After analyzing power levels across the country, Mr. Aguilar, who consults reinsurance companies on Venezuela’s power sector, said the government has tried to restart Guri four times since the start of the blackout on Thursday. The latest attempt led to the explosion of a secondary substation near Guri on Saturday. “Every time they attempt to restart, they fail and the disruption breaks something else in the system, destabilizing the grid yet further,” Mr. Aguilar said. “Obviously, they are hiding something from us,” he said of the government. Restarting the turbines requires skilled operators who can synchronize the speed of rotation on as many as nine of Guri’s operational turbines. Experts said the most experienced operators had long left the company because of meager wages and an atmosphere of paranoia fed by Mr. Maduro’s ever-present secret police.

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Rogue Valley said:

I think all who are prophesying some master conspiracy here by the United States need to pump the brakes. Venezuela has been on the brink of implosion for some time now. 100,000 percent hyperinflation. Millions have fled from starvation and violence. The brightest bureaucrats and technicians that kept this nation above water have departed for brighter pastures. The infrastructure is decrepit and abandoned. The power blackout is emblematic of a nation that no longer functions even minimally at numerous levels. This particular failure is simply more "visible" than many of the other catastrophe's plaguing this country. Unfortunately, I predict conditions will worsen.

Related: For some Venezuelan migrants, blackout was 'the last straw'

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Carjosse said:

I am sure the conspiracy theorists will find some way to pin this on American imperialism and is just a ploy to make glorious 100% legitimately elected Maduro look bad.

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Rogue Valley said:

No End in Sight to Venezuela’s Blackout, Experts Warn

Those fleeing Venezuela say it's nearly impossible to cope with the blackout, now in its fifth day.

I think all who are prophesying some master conspiracy here by the United States need to pump the brakes. Venezuela has been on the brink of implosion for some time now. 100,000 percent hyperinflation. Millions have fled from starvation and violence. The brightest bureaucrats and technicians that kept this nation above water have departed for brighter pastures. The infrastructure is decrepit and abandoned. The power blackout is emblematic of a nation that no longer functions even minimally at numerous levels. This particular failure is simply more "visible" than many of the other catastrophe's plaguing this country. Unfortunately, I predict conditions will worsen.

Related: For some Venezuelan migrants, blackout was 'the last straw'

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The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, had announced on Monday night that Washington was withdrawing all remaining diplomatic staff from Caracas.

“This decision reflects the deteriorating situation in Venezuela as well as the conclusion that the presence of US diplomatic staff at the embassy has become a constraint on US policy,” Pompeo tweeted.

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Evilroddy said:

The ante has just been upped.



From: Venezuela: Guaido under investigation for 'sabotage' of power grid | World news | The Guardian

Staff at the embassy has become a constraint on UU policy. That sounds like something bigger than blacking out most of Venezuela is in store for that country.

Cheers.
Evilroddy.

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Evilroddy said:

The ante has just been upped.



From: Venezuela: Guaido under investigation for 'sabotage' of power grid | World news | The Guardian

Staff at the embassy has become a constraint on UU policy. That sounds like something bigger than blacking out most of Venezuela is in store for that country.

Cheers.
Evilroddy.

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Rogue Valley said:

Diplomats cannot effectively work, and work effectively, without power. A power blackout also affects their security arrangements and communications. Venezuela is in the fifth day of a nationwide power blackout. Citizens in Caracas are now drinking water direct from the Guaire River which flows through the city and contains raw sewerage. This means that the risk of disease and epidemics, especially Cholera, has increased dramatically. Hospitals are already on pass-through. Reports say as many as 50 newborns have died in hospitals due to the extended power outage. If this nation descends into civil war, which is looking ever more likely, it is best to remove all US diplomatic staff beforehand. It would be - a rather difficult and dicey situation - if the Maduro colectivo thugs kidnapped our embassy staff and held them as hostages. I tend to think there is an increasing chance that the US Navy will shortly begin to embargo Venezuelan oil shipments to Cuba. The Cuban government will then have a decision to make .... withdraw it's military support for Maduro or risk an economic implosion within its own shores.

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Evilroddy said:

Rogue Valley:

So freedom of navigation and freedom of trade only applies when the US State approves of it? Is it any wonder why other states with the means to do so are up arming their naval forces for littoral-control and area-denial purposes.

Cheers.
Evilroddy.

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Rogue Valley said:

I simply jumped a few moves ahead on the strategic chess board. Where did you get the impression that I would approve?

You don't know me well enough to assume anything.

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