Those who struck in 2019 are attacking the peace of the country again
Ciudades como Caracas, Zulia, Mérida y Carabobo quedaron sin electricidad durante horas, afectando servicios críticos como el Metro de Caracas. El ministro de Energía Eléctrica responsabilizó a opositores de un ataque a la Central Hidroeléctrica Simón Bolívar, similar al de 2019.
- Blackout affected 20 of Venezuela's 23 states on December 17, 2021
- Major cities including Caracas, Zulia, Mérida, and Carabobo lost power for hours
- Government blamed attack on Guri hydroelectric facility, similar to 2019 blackout that lasted 11 days
- Caracas Metro lines 1 and 3 restored service by 6 a.m.
Venezuela experimentó un apagón masivo que afectó a 20 de 23 estados durante la madrugada del viernes. Las autoridades chavistas atribuyeron el corte a un ataque contra el sistema eléctrico nacional.
Darkness fell across Venezuela again on Friday morning, this time swallowing twenty of the country's twenty-three states in a blackout that lasted hours and left millions without power. The outage struck in the predawn hours, cutting electricity to major cities including Caracas, Zulia, Mérida, Carabobo, Miranda, Lara, Aragua, Apure, Anzoátegui, Vargas, and Bolívar. Social media filled quickly with videos of bewildered residents confronting yet another failure of the national grid—a crisis that has become almost routine in Venezuela, though no less disruptive each time it happens.
The government's response was swift and familiar. Néstor Luis Reverol Torres, the minister of electrical energy, told state media that the blackout resulted from an attack on the national electrical system, specifically targeting the Guri hydroelectric facility. He framed the incident as part of a continuing campaign against Venezuela, invoking the 2019 blackout—the country's worst on record—when nearly the entire nation went dark for eleven consecutive days. "We have received a new attack on the National Electrical System, specifically at Guri," Reverol said in a phone interview with state television. "Those who struck in 2019 are attacking the peace of the country again."
The timing of the accusation carried a particular irony. Just weeks earlier, the government had broadcast an animated cartoon on Venezuelan television featuring a superhero called Super Bigote—a character widely understood to represent Nicolás Maduro—who saves the nation from a coordinated American assault designed to plunge the country into darkness. The cartoon aired as the blackout struck, a collision of propaganda and reality that observers noted with grim recognition.
Recovery efforts began almost immediately, though Reverol acknowledged that restoration would take longer in some western states. By six in the morning, the Caracas Metro announced that lines one and three had returned to service, with trains moving through stations again and normal operations resuming. The speed of partial recovery suggested that infrastructure in some areas remained functional, even if the broader system had collapsed.
For Venezuelans accustomed to rationed gasoline, shortages of medicine, and currency that loses value by the week, the blackout represented another layer of dysfunction in a country where basic services have become unreliable. The outage disrupted not just homes but hospitals, water systems, and the transportation network that millions depend on to move through their cities. Each blackout compounds the previous one, wearing down the infrastructure further and deepening the sense that the state cannot or will not maintain the systems its citizens need to survive.
The government's explanation—that enemies of Venezuela orchestrated the attack—has become the standard narrative whenever the electrical system fails. Whether the blackout resulted from sabotage, neglect, or the simple deterioration of aging infrastructure remains unclear. What is certain is that Venezuela's power grid, once among Latin America's most reliable, has become a symbol of state collapse, and Venezuelans have learned to expect darkness as a fact of life.
Notable Quotes
We have received a new attack on the National Electrical System, specifically at Guri. Those who struck in 2019 are attacking the peace of the country again.— Néstor Luis Reverol Torres, Minister of Electrical Energy
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does the government blame attacks rather than acknowledge infrastructure problems?
Because admitting the grid is failing would mean admitting the system itself is broken. An attack is external, temporary, something that can be blamed on enemies. Decay is internal, permanent, and suggests the government cannot govern.
But people know the difference, don't they? They live with the blackouts.
They do. But the narrative serves a purpose—it keeps the focus on enemies rather than on what the government has or hasn't done. It's a way of refusing accountability.
The cartoon about Super Bigote seems almost absurd given the timing.
It's not absurd to the government. It's messaging. They're telling people: we are protecting you, we are fighting for you. The blackout happens to arrive while that message is still on the air, which undercuts it completely, but the attempt at control is there.
What happens to people during these blackouts? What's the actual cost?
Hospitals lose power. Water pumps stop. Refrigeration fails. People can't charge phones or work from home. It's not just inconvenience—it's a cascade of failures that affects everything from food safety to medical care. And it happens repeatedly, so people can't plan around it.