From Caracas, Venezuela, our correspondent Gladys Quesada updates us on the situation in Venezuela after the sabotage suffered by the National Electric System early Friday morning. teleSUR
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00:00Welcome to Tell Us Your English, and join us again as we go live to Caracas.
00:08Venezuelan authorities today denounced a sabotage attack on the national electric system, and
00:13to give us all the information is our correspondent in the Venezuelan capital, Gladys Quezada.
00:19Hello, Gladys.
00:20Welcome to From the South, and also tell us what is the latest over there.
00:25Well, yes, thanks for the time and the contact here from the South and the opportunity to
00:31inform you and our audience, of course, regarding this new sabotage against the national power
00:38grid and the national electric system.
00:41I have to establish a timeline here because those events have been under development,
00:47you know, underway, and first of all, at 4 a.m. with 50 minutes.
00:51Okay, so 10 prior to 5 a.m., the first cut, the electrical cut was done, was also experienced.
01:01In that occasion, at 5 a.m., the minister of transportation, he was given some addresses
01:07and some statements, and he was explaining that it is guaranteed the transportation means
01:13for the population from one point to the other in this crowded city of Caracas because this
01:18electrical power cut is affecting Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, as well as other
01:23regions.
01:24It's paramount to say that in Caracas, when the power grid is affected and there is no
01:30electricity, so the line, the subway lines that move the masses, that move thousands
01:36of people in a day, well, they are out of power, too, so they are not available.
01:43So the thousands of people have to be moved on through the lines and through the superficial
01:49roads here in the city.
01:51So that is a huge, humongous task for the authorities, but that is guaranteed, as the
01:57minister of transportation, Ramon Velazquez Arawayan, was stating this early morning.
02:03Also, he was referring that there is a service of free transportation using 250 buses,
02:11and those means of transportation are coming from the public and the private sector with
02:17both initiatives and both wills to sustain the mobility in the city and to guarantee
02:22that there are no stranded people and stranded also cars in the traffic in the roads.
02:28Also, they were saying that there are other services that will be enhanced and put in
02:35motion today to restore the mobility, the total mobility in the city.
02:40So far, this electrical power cut due to the sabotage is still underway, so we are
02:46still out of power here in Caracas, in many of the cities, and the service is unstable.
02:51In the locality of Catia, which is a popular location here in Caracas, the power came and
02:59then went out again.
03:01So this is one of the many issues that the restoring of the power is unstable.
03:07Other consequence of this attack is that, you know, the data service, the internet through
03:12data is off, so there are no access to calling using digital, which is the largest service
03:20of telecommunications here in Caracas and in all Venezuela.
03:26So many people are out of service with their phones that have no access to digital means,
03:34that's to say the internet, the communication through data, so they are out of that kind
03:40of communication means, but they can have access in the case that they have power to
03:46maybe calling by landlines, and they have the power to hear radio stations that they
03:53are broadcasting the news and broadcasting, you know, the updates day on, and regarding
04:00this information they are giving updates for 30 minutes and on.
04:04Also, as we want to inform the president of the Bolivarian nation, Nicolás Maduro Moros,
04:12he also issued a statement saying that the government is accompanying the people, that
04:17they are reassuring the people that they are doing all the tasks to recover the intellectual
04:22grid, the power grid as soon as possible, and the first vice president of the United
04:27Socialist Party of Venezuela, Leonardo Cabello Rondón, that is also the new minister of
04:32interior relationships, peace and justice, he was saying that they will find out the
04:38responsibles for this sabotage, for this attack against Venezuela, against the national power
04:43grid and system, and that they will find those responsible and make them accountable before
04:49justice to also face responsibilities and face justice because of this attack.
04:54I have to say this is the second attack such a kind in a week.
04:58The first one was on Tuesday night, and it was just a small attack because it affected
05:04some zones, some localities here in Caracas, but this one is affecting the whole city.
05:10We are talking about 7 million people without power right now, since near 5 a.m., early
05:18morning, so we have a city that is operating with the bare minimum of energy in some localities
05:25and also with other services stopped. I have to say, for example, the banks, the commerce,
05:31the finances, those digital systems that depend and rely on electricity, those are stopped,
05:37but people are still working. They are using physical cash to do the transactions, and
05:42they are still buying and selling because, as people have been saying today, the work
05:47has to be done and the life has to move on despite this kind of attacks.
05:52This is an experience that echoes those electric power grid cuts that had place in 2017 and
06:022019, when also the lines of the subway were completely stopped, so people from all over
06:09Caracas had to walk by to get to their offices, their jobs, to go to receive medical attention,
06:17but the resilience of the Venezuelan people has been a premise, so today they are just
06:23showing up that again, and they are finding strategies, finding alternatives to just do
06:28the work as it has to be done and to continue improving and to continue working today.
06:35Also, I have to say that the Minister of Communications, Freddy Iñáñez, he also
06:42has been stating to the population all the information, all the details that the government
06:47has been giving regarding this situation, this power cut, and the affectations, the
06:52impact on the power grid. Those are the main information. Today, I have to say, the National
07:00Guard and the police, they are helping with the issues with the signing and the lights
07:06in the streets, so they are accompanying the traffic and they are serving the population
07:11to be safe, indicating people, indicating the drivers when to move on and when to stop
07:18to allow the traffic to be more fluid, to find no difficulties. So, this is what is
07:25happening, but I have to say, moreover, despite this difficulty, despite this electric cut,
07:32the people are still moving on, and there is peace, there is normality in the streets
07:37of Caracas. Yes, with difficulties because without power, there is no signal, there is
07:43no data service in the phones, but people are still moving on, people are still working,
07:49people are still facing their daily lives, and there are no difficulties, major difficulties
07:54as I have to say, and the will in the people is ostensible and is normal in this case,
08:04it is a regular one. And I want to say that the Minister for Defence, Vladimir Padrino
08:10Lopez, he was also stating that the armed Bolivarian forces are under the service for
08:16the people, they are serving the people and they will be doing so as long as this contingency
08:23this emergency is underway. Also, the government is guaranteeing the operativity of 79 hospitals,
08:32that is to say 79 healthcare institutions that are receiving power plants, that are
08:38receiving assistance because they have to keep going with the service and the care for
08:44the ones that are vulnerable, that is to say the pregnant women, that is to say the elderly
08:50and the people that are there hospitalized. Also, there are several areas in these healthcare
08:57facilities that are prioritized, that is to say the UCIs, the care, the emergency units
09:03and the neonatal halls and neonatal salons in those facilities of healthcare. And the
09:13government has been stressing that the healthcare, the education and the transportations are
09:20paramount priorities for them, so they are going to move all the infrastructure and all
09:25the resources for them to ensure the normal, the regular functioning of those sectors and
09:32guarantee that the population has a regular day even though the circumstances and even
09:37though there's attacks. So now, I'm giving back the signal and this is the information,
09:42so back to you.
09:44Thank you, Gladys, for all your input as a way to follow what is the situation right
09:49now in Venezuela as authorities are denouncing a sabotage against the power grid and the
09:54teams continue to work to ensure that the system comes back as soon as possible. We
09:59will continue bringing you all the latest information in Venezuela in upcoming news
10:03briefs. Stay tuned with Telus for English.