Half Venezuela hit by power blackout

Traffic lights were knocked out by the outage (Photo: Gustavo Bandres)

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The third massive power blackout thus far this year hit 50 percent of the Venezuelan territory, temporarily disabling basic services such as the subway, and creating new concerns about the status of the electric power supply.

In total, there were two major power outages on Monday from 1:50 p.m. that struck the Greater Caracas and the states of Apure, Aragua, Bolívar, Carabobo, Falcón, Lara, Mérida, Nueva Esparta, Portuguesa, Táchira, Trujillo and Zulia. A general blackout in the Andes region was confirmed by Carlos Sánchez, a top official of the Venezuelan state electricity company, Compañía Anónima de Administración y Fomento Eléctrico, Cadafe.

Meanwhile, Hipólito Izquierdo, the chairman of the National Electrical Corporation, and Javier Alvarado, the chairman of the state-run utility Electricidad de Caracas, listed the projects that are expected to expand the long-term generation capacity, particularly in Caracas. However, it follows that there is no short term solution to avoid completely power outages in the Venezuelan territory.

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05:09 PM. Economy. If any country has cashed in on the Bolivarian revolution, that is Brazil, particularly the private companies of the southern neighbor. Over the past five years, it has been awarded contracts for works to be carried out in Venezuela for over USD 14 billion. This puts it as the first recipient of government-to-government contracts, that is, without bidding, since Hugo Chávez took office.