Maduro blames new cybernetic attack for Venezuela's blackout

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02:27

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Saturday that the country was the victim of yet another cybernetic attack on the national electrical system, which was affecting the progress achieved in restoring power outage.

"We received another cybernetic attack at noon to one of the generation sources that was working perfectly, but the fresh attack knocked out all that had been achieved by noon," Maduro said during a speech marking the Bolivarian Day of Anti-imperialism.

The Venezuelan president said thanks to a deployment made by his government on Friday, they had been able to "make progress in continuous recovery process" that restored electricity to 70 percent of the country, which was lost following the new attack on Saturday.

A woman opens a beer at a bar during a power outage in Caracas, Venezuela, March 9, 2019. /VCG Photo

A new electrical failure on early Saturday left several areas in the Venezuelan capital Caracas, where electrical service had been restored, without power once again.

Since Thursday afternoon, large parts of Venezuela has been left without electrical power due to what authorities called a sabotage of the country's central hydroelectric plant at the Guri dam in southeastern Venezuela.

Communications Minister Jorge Rodriguez said late Thursday that Venezuela was suffering from "technical and cybernetic sabotage" at the nation's central hydroelectric plant, which affected nearly the whole country.

A demonstrator shouts at Bolivarian National Police (PNB) officers during an anti-government protest on Victoria Avenue in Caracas, Venezuela, March 9, 2019. /VCG Photo

On Friday afternoon, electricity was restored to at least 10 Caracas districts after 20 hours without service, and to several eastern states. However, a new power outage hit the Venezuelan capital again on Saturday.

In his Twitter account, Maduro said on Saturday that the United States, once again, underestimated the Venezuelan people, referring to the sabotage of the hydroelectric plant, which is the country's largest.

On the other hand, Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido on Saturday called on citizens nationwide to travel to the capital Caracas for a protest against Maduro, as the country's worst blackout in decades dragged on for a third day.

(With input from Xinhua, Reuters)

(Cover: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro (R) and first lady Cilia Flores (L) attend a rally at the Miraflores Presidential Palace in Caracas, Venezuela, March 9, 2019. /VCG Photo)

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