Sabotage on Venezuela's Electrical Grid 2.0

by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org - Home - Stephen Lendman)

According to sources on the ground, Caracas and surrounding areas are affected, including Altamira, La Urbina, El Cafetal, El Rosal, Los Palos Grandes, and other districts.

In Chacao municipality where various foreign embassies are located, power was lost Sunday evening.

What's happening occurred while Trump regime point man for regime change in Venezuela Elliott Abrams is in Rome, meeting with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov and other Russian officials Monday and Tuesday, discussing the Bolivarian Republic.

Attacking the country's electrical grid a second time during the meeting is a further affront to the Venezuelan people and Russian good faith, though futile, efforts to deal with the Trump regime diplomatically. 

Ryabkov wasted time and effort meeting with unindicted war criminal Abrams. On hearing the latest news from Venezuela, he should terminated the meeting and headed home, abandoning further efforts to deal with the US - accomplishing nothing whenever tried.

So far, the only news agency outside Venezuela reporting the latest from Caracas is Sputnik News. United News of India published information from its report.

What caused the latest blackout has yet to be officially explained. According to Sputnik, citing Venezuelan media, "an explosion (may have) occurred at an electrical substation in the industrial area of ??Cloris east of Caracas," Venezuelan authorities yet to comment on what happened.

Last Wednesday, Venezuelan Communications Minister Jorge Rodriguez said power was near fully restored nationwide.

Hospitals were unaffected by the early-to-mid-March blackout, caused by a US cyberattack on the nation's electrical grid. 

They automatically switched to backup generators and continued functioning normally, no deaths occurring as falsely reported by major Western media, serving as virtual press agents for the Trump regime's coup plot, suppressing hard truths about what's going on.

More should be known about the latest blackout once ruling authorities comment on it.

Separately, US Southcom head Admiral Craig Faller is working with his Colombian counterparts in support of the Trump regime's coup attempt in Venezuela.

"My job is to be ready, be on the balls of my feet, at all times. But we've been talking to our partners and no one, no one, thinks that a military option is a good idea," he said - despite likely heavy-handed pressure on regional leaders to support it.

Countries bordering and near Venezuela fear likely cross-border effects of war in the country if launched, notably a likely refugee crisis, countless numbers fleeing for safe haven protection.

On Monday, Venezuelan Constituent Assembly President Diosdado Cabello said further disruptive attacks on the country's vital infrastructure may be coming, including its electrical grid, transportation system, and other facilities, adding:

"What is going on in Venezuela is happening for a reason. (The US) already attempted to carry out… a number of selective attacks in a bid to cause damage to our country." 

It "does not care about victims. It can openly attempt to launch terrorist attacks in the subway, schools and hospitals."

Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said the following on Monday:

"We will warn the United States against forceful intervention and other forms of unlawful influence on the legitimate authority in Caracas." He stopped short of saying how Moscow intends countering it.

A Reuters report claimed a Maduro link to Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and National Liberation Army (ELN) factions, claiming they operate on both sides of the Colombia-Venezuela border - despite no known connection between the Bolivarian Republic and these groups.

InSight Crime's Jeremy McDermott was cited, his operations funded by George Soros' Open Society Foundations.

Supporting the coup to topple Maduro, he said FARC and ELN factions are operating in Venezuela with at least Maduro's blessing - citing no credible evidence backing his claim, adding:

"If the Americans invade, or if Colombia promotes a military intervention, then they (Maduro's supporters) would be able to call upon an insurgent force with more than 50 years of combat experience."

Venezuela's military and supportive community groups are prepared to defend the nation if attacked. No evidence suggests Maduro's connection to Colombian dissident factions, nor any operating cross-border in the Bolivarian Republic.

Asked if the US has evidence of communications between Maduro and Colombian guerrilla groups, Faller said: "I'd rather not discuss the details of the exact connections but we're watching it very closely."

If he or other US officials had evidence of a connection, it would have made screaming headlines by now. None other than what Reuters called an "exclusive" report surfaced - indicating no connection exists.

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