What’s to Blame for Venezuela Blackout?

As half of Venezuela, including much of the capital Caracas, plunged into darkness during electrical outages Tuesday, the country’s president used Twitter to go on the offensive.

Saying that his government had stabilized the electrical system while directing blame for the outage at political opponents, President Nicolas Maduro posted on Twitter, “It’s evident that behind this is the hand of those who want to weaken our homeland. We follow the path of work and prosperity. Unity and progress!” Maduro was vice president under Hugo Chavez, who died in March.

Venezuela’s energy ministry blamed the problems on transmission line failures, while opposition politicians accused Maduro’s government of failing to invest enough in the grid, according to an Associated Press report.

The

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