Days After Most Power Restored, Venezuela’s Lights Are Out Again

(Bloomberg) -- Just 10 days after Venezuela managed to restore power to most residents following a week-long blackout, the lights are out again.

While the state-run utility company and the government have yet to confirm or provide details, the government-operated Caracas metro system said that service had been suspended due to the power outage in the capital.

There have been reports of at least 16 of the 23 states in Venezuela being affected by the power disruption, according to NTN24.

A mega blackout struck Venezuela on March 7 and lasted a full week in most places. Stores were looted in Maracaibo, the country’s second-largest city, while hospitals struggled to keep patients medicated and food rotted in fridges and supermarkets. President Nicolas Maduro’s government blamed that incident on a U.S. cyber attack with the help of the domestic political opposition while many critics and experts alike found the root cause more likely to have been from years of severe lack of investment and maintenance in the grid.

To contact the reporter on this story: Daniel Cancel in Sao Paulo at dcancel@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: David Papadopoulos at papadopoulos@bloomberg.net

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