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On March 11, blackouts in Venezuela continued for the 4th day in a row.
US-Proclaimed Venezuelan President Juan Guaido claimed that 17 people have died in the power outages and that they were “murdered” by President Nicolas Maduro’s government.
“Venezuela has truly collapsed already,” Guaido said.
“There is no service in the hospitals. These were the best hospitals in the country. If we are in the capital what is it like kilometers inside Venezuela where there hasn’t been or there has been very little gasoline with periodic cuts in electricity, without basic goods, with inefficient public transportation? You can say with all responsibility that Venezuela has already collapsed.”
Guaido said the opposition had recorded 17 “murders” during the blackout.
“I can’t call it anything else, due to lack of electricity. Imagine if in your country, you wake to the news that there’s been four days without electricity because they steal from electricity plants and 17 people died. That’s murder,” he said.
Guaido also shared a tweet by Jose Manuel Olivares, a member of the Venezuelan National Assembly who shared a list claiming that 21 people had died due to the blackouts.
URGENTE. Este es el balance a esta hora de los fallecidos por el apagón. No es una simple cifra, son vidas de venezolanos que de no ser por la incapacidad de Nicolás Maduro, no se hubiesen perdido. #HospitalSinLuz pic.twitter.com/Lc9QcvsAoK
— Jose Manuel Olivares (@joseolivaresm) March 11, 2019
“Urgent. This is the balance at this hour of those killed by the blackout. It is not a simple figure, are Venezuelan lives that if not for the inability of Nicholas Maduro, they would not have lost. #HospitalSinLuz”
The Maduro government blamed a US cyber-attack for the blackouts, but Guaido said that such a scenario was “absurd.”
Venezuela’s main power plant is full of aging, analog machinery not connected to any network, he said.
“We are in the middle of a catastrophe that is not the result of a hurricane, that is not the result of a tsunami,” Guaido said. “It’s the product of the inefficiency, the incapability, the corruption of a regime that doesn’t care about the lives of Venezuelans.”
Guaido also said that he would call for a state of national emergency at a special plenary session in the National Assembly on March 11th.
In a video posted on Twitter he also once more asked the military to join the opposition and oust Maduro.
Nuestra Fuerza Armada no puede seguir siendo cómplice del usurpador de Miraflores. No pueden seguir escondiéndolo, porque con él no es viable una solución.
Hago un llamado a los familiares de nuestros funcionarios militares. Hablen y díganles lo que están sufriendo. pic.twitter.com/Du2JjHZ074
— Juan Guaidó (@jguaido) March 11, 2019
“Our armed forces cannot remain complicit in the usurper of Miraflores. They cannot keep hiding it, because with it it is not viable a solution.
I call on the relatives of our military officials. Talk and tell them what they’re suffering.”
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on his end ordered the chiefs of REDI, ZODI and the governors to keep the people informed in an attempt to stop “the macabre strategy of bringing us to a shutdown.”
He ordenado a todos los Jefes de REDI, ZODI y a los Gobernadores mantener informado a nuestro pueblo. La estrategia macabra de llevarnos a un enfrentamiento fracasará. Seguimos trabajando por la plena recuperación del Sistema Eléctrico Nacional. ¡Venceremos! pic.twitter.com/wnQHQYgzlK
— Nicolás Maduro (@NicolasMaduro) March 10, 2019
Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez announced that the Venezuelan Army has introduced an air surveillance system over the country’s power lines to protect its energy system and prevent further incidents.
“The Venezuelan National Armed Forces launched an air surveillance system for power lines today, and since yesterday they have occupied all strategic facilities… for physical protection at various levels in order to stabilise the system and prevent any other attacks”, Lopez said.
US Senator Marco Rubio, who was blamed by Venezuelan Information Minister Jorge Rodriguez that he was behind the blackout also provided an “overview” of the power outage crisis at the moment.
FIVE PART THREAD ON SITUATION IN #VENEZUELA:
The crisis inside the country has taken a rapid & catastrophic turn over the last 72 hours. As bad as the humanitarian crisis was before,since Thursday it has become increasingly horrific.1/5
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) March 10, 2019
US National Security Adviser John Bolton in an interview on ABC said that he was “honored” to be named by Nicolas Maduro as somebody he feared.
“RADDATZ: I think you got the idea there, pointing the finger, right, at you and others. Do you want Maduro to fear the advice you’re giving to the president?
BOLTON: Let me just say I’m honored to be named by Nicolas Maduro. I add him to the list of other people who’ve criticized me over the years. I don’t wish him any ill will. I tweeted some weeks ago I hope his future consists of living on a nice beach somewhere far from Venezuela. It’s not just Maduro though. It’s the entire regime. It’s a group of kleptocrats who have plundered Venezuela of its oil wealth, have impoverished the people. You can see that now with the collapse of their nationwide electrical grid …”
He also said that he wasn’t sure Maduro would be ousted, but he thought that momentum was on Guaido’s side.
“RADDATZ: You’re pretty certain Maduro’s going to be out?
BOLTON: Well, I’m not certain of anything. But I do think momentum is on the side of Guaido. I think the overwhelming support of the population and the overwhelming support of the enlisted personnel in the military and the junior officers, the top officer corps, only a few have broken. You know, there are 2,000 admirals and generals in Venezuela which is more than all of the nations of NATO combined. That tells you who benefits from plundering the economy.”
He judges that the momentum is on Guaido’s side by the fact that Maduro has not ordered the police or military to arrest him after returning to Venezuela, in spite of a travel ban imposed on him by the Supreme Court.
“BOLTON: The point is that they have not sought to arrest Guaido and the and the National Assembly and the opposition. And I think one reason for that is that Maduro fears if he gave that order, it would not be obeyed. The fact is, and the media don’t know it because people don’t talk about this, there are countless conversations going on between members of the National Assembly and members of the military in Venezuela; talking about what might come, how they might move to support the opposition.”
On March 10th, MSM reports admitted that the burned US humanitarian aid truck was, in fact, burned by opposition supporters and not the Venezuelan military.
#Maduro ordering the firing on and burning of trucks filled with
humanitarian aid & attacking volunteers is unconscionable. I condemn the killings & human rights abuses committed by Maduro. Violent attacks against life-saving aid for #Venezuela is despicable. #EstamosUnidosVE https://t.co/BOSuVP1mTL— Mark Green (@USAIDMarkGreen) February 23, 2019
.@marcorubio’s lie debunked: This video shows an opposition protester throwing a Molotov cocktail at the aid truck on the Francisco de Paula Santander bridge connecting Venezuela and Colombia. pic.twitter.com/4IgTt2u4pJ
— Dan Cohen (@dancohen3000) February 24, 2019
The NYT tried to shift the blame, claiming that “US officials used unverified claims about a burning aid truck to spin their side on the Venezuelan crisis,” when in fact the original report apparently came from CNN.
You have to be fucking joking with this tweet. It was CNN – the outlet where you work – that led the way in spreading this lie all over the world. CNN claimed it saw with its own eyes something that never happened. It ignored all the evidence presented weeks ago proving this lie: https://t.co/HzVSTRnlvx
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) March 10, 2019
NYT’s Marshall Cohen also said that the burned aid truck was not such a big issue, since Maduro decided to block the humanitarian aid and in the end he and the Venezuelan government are ultimately to blame.
That being said, this was one larger flashpoint of a bigger reality. Maduro ordered his forces to block the humanitarian aid from entering the country in the first place. If the trucks can cross the border, that confrontation probably doesn't happen and probably there is no fire.
— Marshall Cohen (@MarshallCohen) March 10, 2019
Even “open source investigation” website Bellingcat reached the same conclusion.
Regardless, the story with the burned truck was heavily used as a way to show how vicious the Venezuelan military are under Maduro’s rule. Now that it turned out the opposition burned it, it instantly becomes something insignificant.
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Meanwhile in caracas….. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c7a8cb34a5fca0475c694ac7b613ed6497b1ffe3b17666210c9891577be1de55.png
if YOU can pay for it or your in the IN MARXIST crowd.. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b3842a2f27f805c9a8d7ef2aaf076f18518c94a04bd909aceb8e3ed6bb44c13d.jpg
It isn’t the lack of food, it is the hyperinflation, because of the theft and the sanctions by, you guessed it – the Yankers.
It’s sarcasm against the MSM lie that people are starving to death in Venezuela…. Those chickenhawks in Washington are behind everything in Venezuela.
I understood the sarcasm, sorry, mine was an addition about the lack of food which they lied about.
No need to say sorry my friend. :)
I blame Putin.
Jackpot – you are the 1,000 person to blame him.
We all know who is behind this, don’t we? I wonder what happens if the same fate reaches the usa.
Don’t worry, this is coming to the US. When it does, there will be total chaos, which will also fit into ‘the plan’ nicely. Martial law will be necessary…
If this will accelerate the cleansing process then the sooner the better.
wishful thinking :)
My sentiments as well. The bad part is that while the US may collapse, that doesn’t mean the threat will be gone. Remember what happens when you corner a wounded beast. With Martial Law comes complete control. The international enforcer has to go and luckily for the world, we are broke as hell and every word uttered by the buffoon shows it. Now, when the serf nations (or collaborators) refuse to pay, they will suffer domestic terrorism (as if they aren’t already) events until they relent. Trump has already sent the bills out…cost +50%. Until they wake up and evict the terrorists, they are on the list as well. I was hoping the sanction regime that has devastated European economies would be enough. But I guess I underestimated the degree to which Europe is compromised. Another other problem is home grown retards who believe the west is infallible and righteous. When the collapse happens, these idiots will lose their minds to massive cognizant disconnect. That will please me immensely.
I know, At first glance the whole world is “fighting” the terrorist. We should fight those who fund them. I am against any kind of violence and abuse as it only recreates the same but I am getting to the conclusion that there is no other way out.- eliminate the source .of troubles. I wonder if a few strategic hits ( not bombs, there are other ways to eliminate threats) are not long overdue. I know the usa is in a big mess, same as europe but if they can arrest and bring to justice the culprits, then we could have a sigh of relief. Trump did not deliver, not yet anyway and it looks like he is busy delivering to the deep state. I hate to admit it but 80% of my countrymen are debils. I love seeing their jaws drop when I say something different from the main stream narrative.
Yes, I agree on that…address the supporters. We have the very same problem with the police. They intimidate, beat, kill with impunity. Very few communities actually hold these people to account. Most of the time they walk, regardless of the crime. They get away with this because of the local prosecutors, mayors, city councils and police unions(extremely corrupt) protect these criminals in blue(now black). To top it off, the people are so brainwashed, they believe that if you were arrested, you must be guilty of something. Until these enablers are removed or made to understand their error, nothing will change for the good…only a continuation of a downward spiral. But truly, all this occurs because of coersion and blackmail. This situation in microcosm is the same with the world in macrocosm. Look to the intel services for the real culprits…they have all the dirt, hence control.
It’s Animal Assad, bombarding VZ’s hydroelectric works with Sarin gas!!!
no..Barrel bombs
Guaidó is a miserable pig and is politically finnished, the electricity, the water and the communications are being restored, for example, in the state of Miranda (one of the 23 states of Venezuela) 80% of territory has already electricity. Everybody in Venezuela, even Guaidó’s supporters, knows that he is the guilty bastard.
Guido,what’s his name,should be executed for calling for the destruction of Venezuela and the murder of its people. He is a classic zionist GMO engineered satanic scumbag.
Maduro will have the same fate as Gaddafi & Saddam
Worry not. When this is all out in the open, Guano will have not one person to help him. He will not be safe in Venezuela, he won’t even be able to count on the US criminals…he will then be a loose end and we know what happens to loose ends…heart attacks, falling out windows, suicide, etc. When this coup started to go south and they had to hurt the Venezuelan people in this last ditch attempt, his fate was sealed. Maduro is going nowhere…only the brain dead or delusional think otherwise. Guano on the other hand is already gone, he just doesn’t know it yet.
https://www.answercoalition.org/national_march_on_washington_hands_off_venezuela
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D0m0_ZhXQAEFXTb.jpg
Can’t wait to see how big that will be
“…The Maduro government blamed a US cyber-attack for the blackouts, but Guaido said that such a scenario was “absurd.” Venezuela’s main power plant is full of aging, analog machinery not connected to any network, he said…”
FFS, this guy is seriously dumb about his own country’s infrastructure for an IMF shill. I notice he is already funneling the $30 billion the US stole from the Venezuelan people to make external debt interest payments RATHER than throw a few bones out to fix the electrical grid. What a f’king humanitarian.
“Move to the back of the line, Venezuelans. International banks will be paid FIRST and there’s nothing left for you. Oh… here’s a little box of USAID humanitarian snacks, you little fuckers. You should be grateful! If you don’t like it, move to Miami.”
The main power plant is Guri (Simon Bolivar) Hydroelectric Plant. That ‘aging, analog machinery’ would, of course, be news to ABB Switzerland because they installed the instrumentation and protection system there a decade ago. You know: computers, networks, fiber optic lines, SCADA, etc. Here ya go Guaido – read all about it:
https://library.e.abb.com/public/f27f769220adaeaac12571d9004169c6/32-36%203M647_ENG72dpi.pdf
Guri and all the other hydro plants in Venezuela plus all the transmission and administration offices are connected to CORPOELEC’s nationwide WAN which is [shocked face] probably connected to the internet. Not that it needs to be – STUXNET was originally installed from a thumb drive on a regular desktop computer and propagated from THERE – the internet wasn’t used.
The industrial controllers in the powerhouse and switchyard of Guri and the ABB SCADA software (Power Generation Portal) [link] are EXACTLY the kind of system that US/Israel designed STUXNET to infect. Anyone that says Guri’s systems were ‘manual’ or too old to infect is either stupid or feeding you utter bullshit.
The transmission and distribution part of Venezuela’s grid IS in shambles and has been at fault for localized blackouts in the past, but that wasn’t the problem here. Lack of spare parts has been a problem, but no one single piece of equipment caused a nationwide blackout here. Dozens of thermal generation projects were never started or completed because of theft, corruption and mismanagement. That capacity could have been used as backup, but the lack of it didn’t cause the current blackout. Workers pay at CORPOELEC (because of inflation) is too low for al lot of them to bother going to work at all, and just about all the engineering talent left in the last few years. Venezuela’s electrical grid is completely fucked up and has been for a while, but it would be pretty damn unusual for problems at your biggest generating station to take out the whole grid and keep it down. Something else happened here, but neither Maduro/CORPOELEC will ever say and that smirking chimp Abrams isn’t telling anyone.
I guess I’d dramatically prefer the villainously corrupt powerful people to be dead than their powerless victims, but I still can’t approve of a bullet to anyone’s head. Thanks for the clear description of the world-class technology in their energy providing sector. I laughed out load reading Guaidó’s ‘absurd’ claim that was as obtuse as disbelieving passenger planes could be (and had been) used to attack buildings.
I should add that since my rant above, the only two specific credible technical faults (ascribed to unnamed sources at CORPOELEC) I’ve seen are:
1) Overload sensing in one of three main EHV transmission lines between Malena and San Geronimo B substations from something like a short to ground arc – maybe a fire from overgrown vines. That’s sarcasm – the 765 kV towers are way too tall for that.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2590935abbc66cab3199e09cfd43fb36de6047aee5bc48189eaa58638fc1fad0.png
Interesting rumor, but by now, someone would have taken a picture of the burned-out catastrophic ruins of whatever could possibly shunt 765 kV to ground or the 10 ft. deep smoking crater melted into the earth from that much current. In other words, I don’t believe that actually happened – but it didn’t need to.
STUXNET and its bastard NSA children virii work by running little programs somewhere in the control system to either send fake sensor data (like a line overload), display fake data or hide real data from the operators screens and/or the automated control system (SCADA) making it react like something/nothing is wrong, or just sending bad commands to equipment controllers as if they came from an operator or the SCADA control system.
So there never had to actually have been an overload in one of the three main lines. All that’s necessary is for operators or the system to think there was. They only know what their screens say.
Normally, such an overload signal makes red lights start blinking, warning horns go off, and the transmission system commands the substations to rerout power around that bad line segment. That shouldn’t have been that big of a deal for the Malena and San Geronimo B substations – that’s exactly what reactive compensation substations on main transmission lines are made to do. The other two lines should have been able to handle the load. Redundancy. That’s why there’s three separate lines to begin with that run on their own individual towers.
But if you were using your STUXNET variant to break Venezuela’s grid for your regime change, then you wouldn’t just fake an overload signal. You would also screw up the way the substations react. Maybe tell the other lines to absorb and shed a few thousand megawatts of load every second without performing any line compensation and fry everything back to the generating station at Guri Dam. There’s a million variations of evil virii clownfuckery you could use to make these substations destroy themselves.
2) A turbine or its generator at Guri (9 in operation) did something bad that upset the rest of the system. Yeah, possible. But these just don’t… break that often. And like the substations above, there is plenty of equipment in the power plant to protect it from something like losing a generator. That, by itself, shouldn’t bring down the whole powerplant, and certainly not the whole f’king grid.
But toss in your fake sensor data or evil equipment control commands from your STUXNET buddy, and you can make the system think whatever you want. If you understand this stuff (say, like the USCYBERCOM boys) then you can get the powerplant equipment to destroy itself.
I was on the fence whether it was just Venezuela/CORPOELEC’s neglected grid, but the latest batch of tweets pretty much changed my mind. A lot of the smaller city/neighborhood substations have been blowing up and burning today when they do have power. They shouldn’t be – the entire transmission network is designed to control the power well enough to prevent that from happening. Of course the grid coming back up and going down is stressful, but it’s happened plenty of times before without dozens of distribution transformers all over Venezuela blowing up.
This can’t just be a coincidence. I smell the genocidal stink of Abrams all over this.
“is either stupid or feeding you utter bullshit.”…with Guano, it’s the first one enabling the second. Along with Rubio, they’ve got an IQ of about 20. Most of the time, they have zero idea of what is coming out of their mouths…as proven by Rubio when he thought the name of a reporter (German Dam) was the dam involved (Guri). The reporter tweeted him and told him he was a reporter and not German, much less a dam.