Venezuela enters fourth day of blackout, Maduro blames U.S.

2019-03-11 5

People in Venezuela are enduring a fourth straight day of an unprecedented nationwide power blackout.
The country's under-fire socialist President Nicolas Maduro - who is facing a challenge by the leader of the opposition-led congress - is pointing an accusing finger at the U.S.
Experts, however, say the blackout is almost certainly due to years of underinvestment in the power grid.
For more on this, we have Fernando (How-RAY-GEE) Jauregui, a freelance journalist based in Caracas... who joins us on Skype.

Fernando,... it's hard to imagine the chaos a four day blackout would cause in Korea -- but your country is going through this on top of food shortages and massive inflation,.... how are people in Venezuela coping with the situation, especially in regards to the lack of electricity?

Maduro is blaming the U.S. for the power outage, saying the Americans sabotaged a hydroelectric dam, do Venezuelans buy that?

We've been watching the massive opposition marches, intensifying international pressure and now this nationwide power outage, but Maduro seems determined to stay put. Is there a sense in Venezuela that he could ride this out and remain in power?

Fernando (How-RAY-GEE) Jauregui, freelance journalist based in Caracas, we appreciate you joining us and keeping us update. Stay safe, goodbye.