Venezuela | People remain calm despite attack to national power grid
teleSUR correspondent in Caracas, Gladys Quesada, updates on the consistent efforts of the Venezuelan authorities to restore the electric service in the entirety of the country, after last night’s attack on the National Electric Service. teleSUR
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00And now again, we go live with our colleague and correspondent Glaris Quesada,
00:04who will give us a quick and precise update about how the Venezuelan people
00:09and also the government face the power grid in the country.
00:13Hello, Glaris.
00:15Yeah, Ana, hello. Thanks for once again having me here
00:19and receiving me with the information and the updates from Caracas, Venezuela.
00:24Yeah, currently the recovery, the reinstatement of the power grid,
00:29of the service of electricity here in Caracas is gradual, as you were saying,
00:34and is going step by step slowly in some areas,
00:37but because it depends on the capacity of recovery of the infrastructure
00:42and also because the damage was wide in some point, in some extent,
00:48but so far they are recovering this.
00:51Also, as you were referring, the President Nicolás Maduro Moros,
00:54he was addressing the national and international press
00:57from the Miraflores Palace, the seat of the government,
01:00and he was there in a meeting with some of the top authorities of the nation,
01:05that is to say, the Defense Minister, Vladimir Padrino López,
01:08the Communications Minister, Freddy Iñáñez,
01:10and the Interior Justice and Peace Minister, Diosdado Cabello Rondón.
01:15Those are three of the ministers that were having statements
01:19and pronouncing themselves today,
01:22and so far this is what has happened lately in Venezuela and in Caracas.
01:28I have to say that the President, and you were given some data,
01:31but I want to stress other ones,
01:33that the President said that all the contingency plans,
01:37all of those strategies to face one attack like this one,
01:41you know, an attack of this kind and this magnitude,
01:45are available in the country,
01:47and you know that the Venezuelan authorities and the people
01:51have the expertise to confront this kind of attacks,
01:54this kind of terrorist actions against the national power grid,
01:59as it was done on March the 7th, back in 2019,
02:03when Juan Guaido was self-proclaimed as President of the nation,
02:07and he also was calling for this kind of actions
02:10and this extent or this type of violence in the country.
02:14Also, he was congratulating the people of Venezuela
02:17because he was saying that everyone was in peace, was calm,
02:20and they show a strong will and also a good judgment
02:26in their actions and in their ability to qualify
02:30what was going on in the country
02:32and not just to be carried away by the provocations
02:35of the right-wing and the attacks.
02:37He was also saying that everyone went out just to work
02:41and to live one regular normal day as they used to.
02:46And he was saying that this is not new, as he was referring,
02:52but this one has a, you know,
02:55this new attack has a psychological impact,
02:59has a psychological attempt, you know,
03:04aiming in the collective imaginary of the people,
03:07and this has an underbelly because it's not just to
03:10leave the country without service.
03:12It's also to impact on the stability and, you know,
03:17the spiritual peace of the people and to provoke them,
03:21to make them go out and to be outraged
03:24against an enemy that does not exist.
03:26So that's one of the strategies of this attack,
03:28and that was what the president was saying.
03:31And he reminded that prior to the elections of July 28th,
03:35there was a paramilitary group that was detained in Tashira
03:39and he was saying that that paramilitary group composed
03:42or made up by Venezuelan and Colombian people was,
03:46or had the intention to explode an electric station,
03:50also a power station in that state.
03:53So one of the many objectives,
03:55one of the many points of that group was to put in danger,
04:01to jeopardize the July 28th presidential elections,
04:05intending to impede the realization,
04:09the carrying on of these elections.
04:11But it was also stopped, it was pulled in a hat,
04:15and this is the result.
04:17So the president was saying that this is not new
04:19and that the right-wing extremist groups
04:22and the terrorist groups were announcing this
04:24in the social media back in August the 7th
04:27when they were saying that the anonymous group
04:29was announcing a hit against the national power grid
04:33as this one that Venezuela has suffered today.
04:36So that is the information.
04:38I have to stress that this attack against the national power grid
04:42affected 80% of the service in a country that is reliant on energy
04:48because of the transportation means, because of the hospitals,
04:52and because of all the services.
04:54But as the president was saying, they are prepared,
04:57they are aware of what is going on in the back of these attacks
05:02and that the nation is so prepared that, for example,
05:06all the hospitals, 79 hospitals here in Caracas,
05:09had a power backup so they never ceased to perform the surgeries,
05:17to give the services, to provide healthcare for the people.
05:21And that's so important to say because that tells a lot
05:24about the preparation, the preparedness, the readiness,
05:29the expertise of the Venezuelan government
05:31and the Venezuelan people facing this kind of actions
05:35and this kind of attacks.
05:37So, Ana, this is the information.
05:39This is what is going on in Venezuela and in Caracas.
05:41And we will be reporting so far and also in upcoming emissions.
05:46So now we give you back the signal.
05:48Back to you, Ana.
05:49Thank you, Clarice, very much for your updates
05:51and all the important things you said.