Venezuelan authorities denounced sabotage against national electrical system - video Dailymotion

teleSUR English

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.

Venezuelan authorities denounced sabotage against national electrical system

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