Electricity Restored in Venezuela After Blackout

Electricity was restored to Caracas and other parts of Venezuela after a blackout plunged much of the country into darkness. The Venezuelan government attributed the outage to an attack on the Guri dam. Residents expressed concerns over food spoilage, and experts cited poor maintenance and investment in the electrical system as ongoing issues.

Electricity returned to Caracas and other parts of Venezuela on Saturday after a blackout plunged much of the country into darkness on Friday. Reuters witnesses reported continued intermittent outages in the oil-producing state of Zulia.

The Venezuelan government blamed the massive blackout on an "attack" on the country's largest dam, Guri, without providing additional details.

Jose Rincon, a teacher living in the central city of Valencia, expressed immediate concerns over food spoilage due to the outage, which he described as worsening an already dire situation. In Maracaibo, the capital of Zulia, 62-year-old retiree Reyner Acosta reported that the electricity came back but was cut off again early Saturday.

Experts indicated that the blackouts, which have plagued Venezuela for years, are primarily due to a lack of maintenance and disinvestment in the electrical system. This incident recalls a series of nationwide power outages in 2019, which Venezuelan authorities also blamed on attacks by the opposition.

(With inputs from agencies.)