Venezuela to begin "reconstruction" of electricity system

Venezuela's Communications Minister Jorge Rodriguez announced Thursday the start of a new phase in reconstructing the country's national electricity system following attacks this month.

"We are going to enter a new phase of reconstruction and total resizing of the national electricity system and the petroleum installations," Rodriguez told the press.

He also called on citizens to use electricity rationally following the attack on the Guri hydroelectric power station, the country's main plant, on Monday.

"Let's save electricity and stay on the streets with our disposition to be free, sovereign and independent," he added.

Caracas restored power supply on Thursday following Monday's massive outage.

On March 7, Venezuela suffered its first massive blackout that left the country without power for five days. Rodriguez said that the "attack" was a cyber warfare against the nucleus of the Guri power station.

The minister warned that since then they have detected "at least four severe sabotages in the national electricity system."

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)