Venezuela's Maduro approves '30-day electricity management programme'

Published Apr 1, 2019

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Bogota - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has approved a

30-day programme to regulate the country's electricity output, the

leader said in a televised speech on Sunday.

"I have approved a 30-day plan to regulate the [electricity] output,"

Maduro said as the country experienced its fourth major power outage

in the month of March.

Maduro blamed the blackout on a "terrorist attack against the

electricity system" by Washington and the "putschist opposition."

Earlier on Sunday, Venezuela's Communication Minister Jorge Rodriguez

said that public and private sector workers would stop working at 2

pm (1800 GMT) on Monday while school children will be given another

day off while work continued to repair the network.

"We know that the 30-day rationing is a farce," self-declared interim

president Juan Guaido wrote on Twitter on Sunday as he called for new

protests. "Don't believe them."

People took to the streets of the capital Caracas on Saturday,

banging pots and pans in a noisy protest as the country experienced

its fourth major power outage this month.

The worst of the blackouts left most of the country in the dark for

more than 100 hours.

The opposition, led by Guaido, has attributed the power outages to a

lack of investment in the national grid, poor upkeep and a failure to

tackle repairs.

Guaido, who has been recognized as Venezuela's caretaker president by

dozens of countries including the US, is trying to oust Maduro, who

has presided over a massive economic crisis in the country and won a

second term in a disputed election last year.

dpa

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