DISINFO: Venezuelan blackout caused by Western sabotage
SUMMARY
The week-long electrical blackout which plunged most of Venezuela into darkness was orchestrated from abroad. The foreign perpetrators targeted the nation’s power supply in full knowledge of its weak spots, namely those segments of the power grid which rely on Western-made equipment.
RESPONSE
No evidence given. The story advances a recurring pro-Kremlin narrative on Western efforts to destabilise Venezuela and/or eject President Nicolas Maduro from office. The 2019 power outage is only the latest in a period of power instability which Venezuela has faced for roughly a decade. The blackouts have been linked to "disastrous" policymaking in the energy sector, widespread government graft, and poor maintenance of energy installations which, according to one Venezuelan NGO, had been altogether abandoned by 1998. In 2018, a Venezuelan trade union official was arrested after warning that a blackout was likely to happen due to the government's negligence. The story marks a departure from RT's earlier coverage of energy problems plaguing Venezuela which, prior to the 2019 constitutional crisis, were readily attributed to the protracted economic crisis in the country. See also RT's narrative U-turn on the Venezuelan food shortages.