CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelans woke up to a fourth day of an unprecedented nationwide blackout on Sunday, leaving residents concerned about the impacts of the lack of electricity on the South American country’s health, communications and transport systems.

Socialist President Nicolas Maduro - who is facing a challenge to his rule by the leader of the opposition-led congress, Juan Guaido - has blamed the blackout on an act of “sabotage” by the United States at the Guri hydroelectric dam, but experts say it is the outcome of years of underinvestment.

“The national electrical system has been subject to multiple cyberattacks,” Maduro wrote on Twitter on Sunday. “However, we are making huge efforts to restore stable and definitive supply in the coming hours.”

Guaido invoked the constitution to assume an interim presidency in January, arguing that Maduro’s 2018 re-election was fraudulent. He has been recognized as Venezuela’s legitimate leader by the United States and most Western countries.

Despite pressure from frequent opposition marches and U.S. sanctions on the country’s vital oil sector, Maduro is not open to negotiations on ending the political impasse and seems intent on trying to stay put, said Elliott Abrams, the Trump administration’s envoy for Venezuela.

The blackout, which began Thursday afternoon, increased frustration among Venezuelans already suffering widespread food and medicine shortages, as the once-prosperous OPEC nation’s economy suffers a hyperinflationary collapse. Food rotted in refrigerators, people walked for miles to work with the Caracas subway down, and relatives abroad anxiously waited for updates from family members with telephone and internet signals intermittent.

“What can you do without electricity?” said Leonel Gutierrez, a 47-year-old systems technician, as he carried his six-month-old daughter on his way to buy groceries. “The food we have has gone bad.”

Lines formed outside the few Caracas gas stations with open pumps, while many motorists stopped along the sides of highways to use their mobile phones in the few areas of the city with signal.

Some bakeries, supermarkets and restaurants were open and running on backup generators, according to Reuters witnesses. Many were asking customers to pay in U.S. dollar bills, since debit card payment systems were not working reliably and local bolivar notes have been scarce for years.

“Customers are buying drinks, batteries and cookies, but we are out of water,” said Belgica Zepeda, a salesperson at a Caracas pharmacy.

At hospitals, the lack of power combined with the absence or poor performance of backup generators led to the death of 17 patients across the country, non-governmental organization Doctors for Health said on Saturday. Reuters was unable to independently verify the figure, and the government’s Information Ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

Power returned briefly to parts of Caracas and other cities on Friday, but went out again around midday on Saturday. Electricity experts said that outage was most likely due to failures in the transmission system, and that the government lacks the equipment and staff to repair them.

“One can infer from the delays and the results of the failure that it was a problem in the lines that leave Guri, rather than in the plant itself,” said Miguel Lara, a former president of the state-run entity responsible for the electricity system.

The outage is by far the longest in decades. In 2013, Caracas and 17 of the country’s 23 states were hit by a six-hour blackout, while in 2018 eight states suffered a 10-hour power outage, government officials said at the time.</s>CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelans woke up to a fourth day of an unprecedented nationwide blackout on Sunday, leaving residents concerned about the impacts of the lack of electricity on the South American country’s health, communications and transport systems.

Socialist President Nicolas Maduro - who is facing a challenge to his rule by the leader of the opposition-led congress, Juan Guaido - has blamed the blackout on an act of “sabotage” by the United States at the Guri hydroelectric dam, but experts say it is the outcome of years of underinvestment.

Guaido invoked the constitution to assume an interim presidency in January, arguing that Maduro’s 2018 re-election was fraudulent. He has been recognized as Venezuela’s legitimate leader by the United States and most Western countries.

Despite pressure from frequent opposition marches and U.S. sanctions on the country’s vital oil sector, Maduro is not open to negotiations on ending the political impasse and seems intent on trying to stay put, said Elliott Abrams, the Trump administration’s envoy for Venezuela.

The blackout, which began Thursday afternoon, increased frustration among Venezuelans already suffering widespread food and medicine shortages, as the once-prosperous OPEC nation’s economy suffers a hyperinflationary collapse. Food rotted in refrigerators, people walked for miles to work with the Caracas subway down, and relatives abroad anxiously waited for updates from family members with telephone and internet signals intermittent.

“What can you do without electricity?” said Leonel Gutierrez, a 47-year-old systems technician, as he carried his six-month-old daughter on his way to buy groceries. “The food we have has gone bad.”

At hospitals, the lack of power combined with the absence or poor performance of backup generators led to the death of 17 patients across the country, non-governmental organization Doctors for Health said on Saturday. Reuters was unable to independently verify the figure, and the government’s Information Ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

Power returned briefly to parts of Caracas and other cities on Friday, but went out again around midday on Saturday.

The outage is by far the longest in decades. In 2013, Caracas and 17 of the country’s 23 states were hit by a six-hour blackout, while in 2018 eight states suffered a 10-hour power outage, government officials said at the time.</s>CARACAS: Venezuelans woke up to a fourth day of an unprecedented nationwide blackout on Sunday (Mar 10), leaving residents concerned about the impacts of the lack of electricity on the South American country's health, communications and transport systems.

Socialist President Nicolas Maduro - who is facing a challenge to his rule by the leader of the opposition-led congress, Juan Guaido - has blamed the blackout on an act of "sabotage" by the United States at the Guri hydroelectric dam, but experts say it is the outcome of years of under-investment.

"The national electrical system has been subject to multiple cyberattacks," Maduro wrote on Twitter on Sunday. "However, we are making huge efforts to restore stable and definitive supply in the coming hours."

Guaido invoked the constitution to assume an interim presidency in January, arguing that Maduro's 2018 re-election was fraudulent. He has been recognised as Venezuela's legitimate leader by the United States and most Western countries.

Despite pressure from frequent opposition marches and US sanctions on the country's vital oil sector, Maduro is not open to negotiations on ending the political impasse and seems intent on trying to stay put, said Elliott Abrams, the Trump administration's envoy for Venezuela.

The blackout, which began on Thursday afternoon, increased frustration among Venezuelans already suffering widespread food and medicine shortages, as the once-prosperous OPEC nation's economy suffers a hyper-inflationary collapse.

Food rotted in refrigerators, people walked for miles to work with the Caracas subway down, and relatives abroad anxiously waited for updates from family members with telephone and internet signals intermittent.

"What can you do without electricity?" said Leonel Gutierrez, a 47-year-old systems technician, as he carried his six-month-old daughter on his way to buy groceries. "The food we have has gone bad."

Lines formed outside the few Caracas gas stations with open pumps, while many motorists stopped along the sides of highways to use their mobile phones in the few areas of the city with signal.

Some bakeries, supermarkets and restaurants were open and running on backup generators, according to Reuters witnesses. Many were asking customers to pay in US dollar bills, since debit card payment systems were not working reliably and local bolivar notes have been scarce for years.

"Customers are buying drinks, batteries and cookies, but we are out of water," said Belgica Zepeda, a salesperson at a Caracas pharmacy.

At hospitals, the lack of power combined with the absence or poor performance of backup generators led to the death of 17 patients across the country, non-governmental organization Doctors for Health said on Saturday.

Reuters was unable to independently verify the figure, and the government's Information Ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

Power returned briefly to parts of Caracas and other cities on Friday, but went out again around midday on Saturday. Electricity experts said that outage was most likely due to failures in the transmission system, and that the government lacks the equipment and staff to repair them.

"One can infer from the delays and the results of the failure that it was a problem in the lines that leave Guri, rather than in the plant itself," said Miguel Lara, a former president of the state-run entity responsible for the electricity system.

The outage is by far the longest in decades. In 2013, Caracas and 17 of the country's 23 states were hit by a six-hour blackout, while in 2018 eight states suffered a 10-hour power outage, government officials said at the time.</s>Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro says the country's complete electrical failure has been caused by "an international cyber-attack" but that his administration has "defeated their coup".

Power and communication outages continue to hit Venezuela on Sunday, intensifying the hardship of a country paralysed by economic and political crises.

The blackout heightened tensions between the opposition and government loyalists, who accuse each other of being responsible for the collapse of the power grid.

"I will tell this for the first time," Maduro told the hushed crowd in Caracas on Saturday. "We are in the process of investigation and correcting it all because there are many infiltrators attacking the electrical company from within."

Maduro stated that Venezuela had been hit yet again by another "cyber-attack" at noon on Saturday.

Speaking to Al Jazeera from the Perez Carreno flagship hospital in Caracas, Lorelei Gorrin, an emergency surgeon, said she had just completed one of the toughest shifts of her life.

"I didn't stop receiving patients. We could only help those who had life-threatening issues," said Gorrin.

"The generator worked, but I was worried it would suddenly stop working. We don't know when we're going to lose power again, or how we're going to deal with that. If we had to resort to manual respiratory aid devices, we would not have enough to help all those that need them.

"We're in a permanent state of alert, which is mentally and emotionally draining," she said.

Across Venezuela, millions of people are affected by the continued blackout.

Valeria Castillo, a 43-year-old actress, told Al Jazeera she briefly "escaped" her home where she takes care of her ailing parents to attend an opposition rally in the capital.

"The entire floor of the house is full of candle wax. My father is very old and sometimes soils himself and washing him has been a real pain with no power and no water as the pump does not work," said Castillo.

Still, many Venezuelans continue to support Maduro in his ongoing fight against what he calls US imperialism.

On Saturday, thousands of demonstrators at a pro-Maduro rally danced and waved flags on what organisers labelled a "day of anti-imperialism", in a show of defiance towards the US, which has imposed oil sanctions on Venezuela in an attempt to overthrow the president.

Many showed up wearing red caps and shirts in support of the self-proclaimed "socialist revolution" of leader Hugo Chavez, who died six years ago and was succeeded by his protege, Maduro.

Lidia Calderon, 37, joined the rally saying she relies on Maduro to fix the situation.

"He does what he can to maintain the peace. And it is very clear that the electricity [situation] is a war against the people," said Calderon.

Maduro's government has not moved directly against opposition leader Juan Guaido since he returned to Venezuela from a Latin American tour on Monday.

But on Saturday, Maduro stepped up verbal attacks on Guaido, calling him "a clown and puppet" in a speech to his supporters outside Miraflores, the presidential palace.

He scoffed at Guaido's claim in late January to be interim president of Venezuela, a declaration supported by the US and about 50 other countries.

"We have defeated their coup," said Maduro. "They tried illegitimately to turn into a president a person in a public square and now, today, it is obvious to the world he is not a president, not anything. A clown and a puppet is what that man [Guaido] is. Delinquent citizen."

Maduro also accused Guaido and his US allies of sabotaging Venezuela's Guri Dam, one of the world's largest hydroelectric stations and the cornerstone of Venezuela's electrical grid.

He said authorities had restored 70 percent of power in Venezuela since a nationwide outage hit late Thursday, but progress was lost on Saturday when "infiltrators" allegedly struck again.

The Venezuelan opposition and US officials say Maduro's attempts to pin blame on his political adversaries is absurd, and that government corruption and mismanagement over many years caused the blackout and wider deterioration of the economy.

In another blow to Venezuela's infrastructure, an explosion occurred at a power station in the country's Bolivar state on Saturday, according to local media.

Netblocks, a non-government group based in Europe that monitors internet censorship, said on Saturday that the second outage had knocked out almost all of Venezuela's telecommunications infrastructure.</s>CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelans woke up to a fourth day of an unprecedented nationwide blackout on Sunday, leaving residents concerned about the impacts of the lack of electricity on the South American country’s health, communications and transport systems.

Socialist President Nicolas Maduro - who is facing a challenge to his rule by the leader of the opposition-led congress, Juan Guaido - has blamed the blackout on an act of “sabotage” by the United States at the Guri hydroelectric dam, but experts say it is the outcome of years of underinvestment.

Guaido invoked the constitution to assume an interim presidency in January, arguing that Maduro’s 2018 re-election was fraudulent. He has been recognized as Venezuela’s legitimate leader by the United States and most Western countries.

Despite pressure from frequent opposition marches and U.S. sanctions on the country’s vital oil sector, Maduro is not open to negotiations on ending the political impasse and seems intent on trying to stay put, said Elliott Abrams, the Trump administration’s envoy for Venezuela.

The blackout, which began Thursday afternoon, increased frustration among Venezuelans already suffering widespread food and medicine shortages, as the once-prosperous OPEC nation’s economy suffers a hyperinflationary collapse. Food rotted in refrigerators, people walked for miles to work with the Caracas subway down, and relatives abroad anxiously waited for updates from family members with telephone and internet signals intermittent.

“What can you do without electricity?” said Leonel Gutierrez, a 47-year-old systems technician, as he carried his six-month-old daughter on his way to buy groceries. “The food we have has gone bad.”

At hospitals, the lack of power combined with the absence or poor performance of backup generators led to the death of 17 patients across the country, non-governmental organization Doctors for Health said on Saturday. Reuters was unable to independently verify the figure, and the government’s Information Ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

Power returned briefly to parts of Caracas and other cities on Friday, but went out again around midday on Saturday.

The outage is by far the longest in decades. In 2013, Caracas and 17 of the country’s 23 states were hit by a six-hour blackout, while in 2018 eight states suffered a 10-hour power outage, government officials said at the time.</s>Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro has praised the armed forces for staying loyal to him and defeating a “coup” led by the US and opposition leader Juan Guaidó.

During a rally, Maduro also blamed Venezuela’s widespread power cuts on “cyber attacks” by the opposition.

His remarks came during a day of protests in the country by pro-government and opposition groups. In the capital Caracas, some supporters of Guaidó scuffled with police.

Maduro has retained the support of the military and close allies including Russia and China since Guaidó declared himself interim president on 23 January.

Speaking outside the Miraflores presidential palace, Maduro referred to Guaidó as “a clown and a puppet” of the US.

“They invited the armed forces to carry out a military coup and their reply was clear – they have defeated the coup plotters,” he said. Meanwhile, police were out in force during an opposition march in the city.

Some protesters pushed against police in riot gear shouting “murderers” and officers responded by firing pepper spray at them.

Addressing the rally, Guaidó announced he would embark on a tour of the country and summon all his supporters to attend a mass protest in Caracas “very soon”.

“We are going to come, all of Venezuela to Caracas, because we need all of them united,” he said.

Guaidó, who leads the opposition-controlled National Assembly, has been recognised as interim president by more than 50 countries.</s>CARACAS, March 10 (Reuters) - Venezuelans woke up to a fourth day of an unprecedented nationwide blackout on Sunday, leaving residents concerned about the impacts of the lack of electricity on the South American country's health, communications and transport systems.

Socialist President Nicolas Maduro - who is facing a challenge to his rule by the leader of the opposition-led congress, Juan Guaido - has blamed the blackout on an act of "sabotage" by the United States at the Guri hydroelectric dam, but experts say it is the outcome of years of underinvestment.

"The national electrical system has been subject to multiple cyberattacks," Maduro wrote on Twitter on Sunday. "However, we are making huge efforts to restore stable and definitive supply in the coming hours."

Guaido invoked the constitution to assume an interim presidency in January, arguing that Maduro's 2018 re-election was fraudulent. He has been recognized as Venezuela's legitimate leader by the United States and most Western countries.

Despite pressure from frequent opposition marches and U.S. sanctions on the country's vital oil sector, Maduro is not open to negotiations on ending the political impasse and seems intent on trying to stay put, said Elliott Abrams, the Trump administration's envoy for Venezuela.

The blackout, which began Thursday afternoon, increased frustration among Venezuelans already suffering widespread food and medicine shortages, as the once-prosperous OPEC nation's economy suffers a hyperinflationary collapse. Food rotted in refrigerators, people walked for miles to work with the Caracas subway down, and relatives abroad anxiously waited for updates from family members with telephone and internet signals intermittent.

"What can you do without electricity?" said Leonel Gutierrez, a 47-year-old systems technician, as he carried his six-month-old daughter on his way to buy groceries. "The food we have has gone bad."

Lines formed outside the few Caracas gas stations with open pumps, while many motorists stopped along the sides of highways to use their mobile phones in the few areas of the city with signal.

Some bakeries, supermarkets and restaurants were open and running on backup generators, according to Reuters witnesses. Many were asking customers to pay in U.S. dollar bills, since debit card payment systems were not working reliably and local bolivar notes have been scarce for years.

"Customers are buying drinks, batteries and cookies, but we are out of water," said Belgica Zepeda, a salesperson at a Caracas pharmacy.

At hospitals, the lack of power combined with the absence or poor performance of backup generators led to the death of 17 patients across the country, non-governmental organization Doctors for Health said on Saturday. Reuters was unable to independently verify the figure, and the government's Information Ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

Power returned briefly to parts of Caracas and other cities on Friday, but went out again around midday on Saturday. Electricity experts said that outage was most likely due to failures in the transmission system, and that the government lacks the equipment and staff to repair them.

"One can infer from the delays and the results of the failure that it was a problem in the lines that leave Guri, rather than in the plant itself," said Miguel Lara, a former president of the state-run entity responsible for the electricity system.

The outage is by far the longest in decades. In 2013, Caracas and 17 of the country's 23 states were hit by a six-hour blackout, while in 2018 eight states suffered a 10-hour power outage, government officials said at the time.</s>Venezuela is likely heading towards civil war, one of the country’s most respected military analysts has warned.

“I fully expect that Nicolas Maduro’s thugs will come for me tonight, for what I am saying,” said retired colonel Jose Machillanda.

“They have already raided my home, and I know what they are capable of. But this country is in a state of convulsion more serious than anyone realises.”

Juan Guaido, recognised by more than 50 countries as the interim president, on Monday declared a “state of alarm” after four days of nationwide blackout, as the power grid collapsed.

He said that 17 people had died from hospital equipment failing, describing their deaths as “murder” at the hands of Mr Maduro’s government.</s>People line up as others charge their phones with a solar panel at a public square in Caracas, Venezuela March 10, 2019. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelans woke up to a fourth day of an unprecedented nationwide blackout on Sunday, leaving residents concerned about the impacts of the lack of electricity on the South American country's health, communications and transport systems.

Socialist President Nicolas Maduro - who is facing a challenge to his rule by the leader of the opposition-led congress, Juan Guaido - has blamed the blackout on an act of "sabotage" by the United States at the Guri hydroelectric dam, but experts say it is the outcome of years of underinvestment.

Guaido invoked the constitution to assume an interim presidency in January, arguing that Maduro's 2018 re-election was fraudulent. He has been recognized as Venezuela's legitimate leader by the United States and most Western countries.

Despite pressure from frequent opposition marches and U.S. sanctions on the country's vital oil sector, Maduro is not open to negotiations on ending the political impasse and seems intent on trying to stay put, said Elliott Abrams, the Trump administration's envoy for Venezuela.

The blackout, which began Thursday afternoon, increased frustration among Venezuelans already suffering widespread food and medicine shortages, as the once-prosperous OPEC nation's economy suffers a hyperinflationary collapse. Food rotted in refrigerators, people walked for miles to work with the Caracas subway down, and relatives abroad anxiously waited for updates from family members with telephone and internet signals intermittent.

"What can you do without electricity?" said Leonel Gutierrez, a 47-year-old systems technician, as he carried his six-month-old daughter on his way to buy groceries. "The food we have has gone bad."

At hospitals, the lack of power combined with the absence or poor performance of backup generators led to the death of 17 patients across the country, non-governmental organization Doctors for Health said on Saturday. Reuters was unable to independently verify the figure, and the government's Information Ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

Power returned briefly to parts of Caracas and other cities on Friday, but went out again around midday on Saturday.

The outage is by far the longest in decades. In 2013, Caracas and 17 of the country's 23 states were hit by a six-hour blackout, while in 2018 eight states suffered a 10-hour power outage, government officials said at the time.</s>CARACAS/SAN CRISTOBAL, Venezuela (Reuters) - Much of Venezuela, including parts of the capital Caracas, remained without power on Monday for a fifth day, crimping vital oil exports and leaving people struggling to obtain water and food.

President Nicolas Maduro, who has blamed the unprecedented blackout on sabotage by the United States at Venezuela's Guri hydroelectric dam, ordered the suspension of classes and the working day, as he had on Friday.

Sources in the oil sector, OPEC member Venezuela's main source of foreign earnings and a vital generator of revenue for Maduro's government, said that exports from the primary port of Jose had been halted by the blackouts.

The opposition-controlled congress called an emergency session to discuss the power cuts, blaming negligence by Maduro's socialist government.

Maduro's rule is being challenged by congress leader Juan Guaido, who in January invoked the constitution to assume the presidency after declaring Maduro's 2018 re-election a fraud. Guaido has been recognised as Venezuela's legitimate leader by the United States and most Western countries, but Maduro retains control of the armed forces and state institutions.

The blackout, which began Thursday afternoon, has heightened frustration among Venezuelans already suffering widespread food and medicine shortages, as the once-prosperous nation's economy suffers a hyperinflationary collapse.

Food has rotted in refrigerators, hospitals have struggled to keep equipment operating, and people have clustered on the streets of Caracas to pick up patchy telephone signals to reach relatives abroad. On Monday, people formed lines to fill containers with water from the streams cascading down the mountain overlooking Caracas.

"This is driving me crazy," said Naile Gonzalez in Chacaito, a commercial neighbourhood of Caracas. "The government doesn't want to accept that this is their fault because they haven't carried out any maintenance in years."

Experts consulted by Reuters believe the nationwide blackout originated in transmission lines that transport energy from the Guri hydroelectric plant to the Venezuelan south.

Venezuela's electricity network has suffered from years of underinvestment and lack of maintenance. Restrictions on imports have affected the provision of spare parts, while many skilled technical personnel have fled the country amid an exodus of more than 3 million Venezuelans in recent years.

Winston Cabas, the president of an electrical engineers' professional association, told reporters that several of the country's thermoelectric plants were operating at just 20 percent of capacity, in part due to lack of fuel. He said the government was rationing electricity, which explained why some parts of Caracas had power and others did not.

The process of restoring service was "complex" and could take between five and six days, he said.

"We once had the best electricity system in the world - the most vigorous, the most robust, the most powerful - and those who now administer the system have destroyed it."

A source at state oil company PDVSA also said the government had decided to ration electricity, in part to supply power to the Jose oil export terminal.

The Information Ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

The collapse in crucial crude exports comes after the United States slapped sanctions on PDVSA in January in a bid to cut off cash to the government and oust Maduro from power. On Monday, it imposed sanctions on a Russian bank over its dealings with PDVSA.

"The United States will not stand idly by while foreign financial institutions facilitate illegitimate transactions that benefit Maduro and his cronies, and perpetuate the corruption that has devastated Venezuela," U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton wrote on Twitter.

The lack of electricity has aggravated a crisis in Venezuelan hospitals, already lacking investment and maintenance in addition to the shortage of medicines.

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.

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Partially-recognized Venezuelan Acting President Juan Guaidó says the country has "truly collapsed already", while accusing the Nicolás Maduro-led government of murdering 17 people during the ongoing nationwide power blackout.