05.04.2019, Caracas.
Cooperation with Russia in the energy sector will help Venezuela guarantee reliable power for the country, Venezuelan Vice President and Minister of Planning and Development Ricardo Menendez said on April 3, TASS reports.
Answering Russian journalists’ questions, Ricardo Menendez said that a major topic at the session of the Russian-Venezuelan inter-governmental commission scheduled for April 4-5 will be the energy sector in the context of sabotage in Venezuela.
“In this sense, cooperation with Russia will help us effectively respond to issues that our country faces in this field,” Ricardo Menendez noted.
According to the Vice President for Planning, Venezuela is experienced in “countering direct aggression and attacks against its power system,” but it will be happy to accept Russia’s help to protect its power system against attacks from abroad.
In March, the majority of Venezuelan states suffered from repeated blackouts.
The first blackout took place on March 7. According to the Venezuelan authorities, the USA and the opposition carried out a cyber attack against the Guri hydroelectric power plant’s information control system. This power failure had tragic consequences: 21 patients died in Venezuelan hospitals.
Another blackout took place on March 18, when the power supply to Caracas and its suburbs was cut off because of fire at a substation.
The third blackout in 16 states of the Bolivarian Republic on March 29 resulted from an attack against the largest hydroelectric plant, Guri, committed by a sniper using a long-range rifle.
A fourth large-scale power failure, which affected the majority of country’s states, happened on March 30.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
