CARACAS, March 26. /TASS/. The subway of Venezuela’s capital Caracas fully stopped its operation on Tuesday due to a blackout, El Nacional reported.
According to the newspaper, "the subway’s transport system is not providing services due to a failure in electricity supply." The subway’s stations were closed for passengers’ entry and exit.
Blackouts in the Caracas subway started on Monday: trains did not operate on three lines, but, according to authorities, train service on these lines was restored later in the day.
Venezuela’s Minister of Popular Power for Communication and Information Jorge Rodriguez said on Monday evening that a considerable part of the country was left without electricity as a result of the second sabotage during the day at the Simon Bolivar Hydroelectric Plant, the largest hydroelectric plant in the country. In light of this, Venezuela’s government decided to declare Tuesday a non-working day. Rodriguez blamed the opposition for organizing "the attack on the national system of electricity supply."
The crisis in the republic escalated after opposition leader Juan Guaido, the appointment of whom to the post of speaker of parliament had been earlier cancelled by Venezuela’s Supreme Court, had declared himself acting president on January 23. The US and the Lima Group states (except for Mexico) recognized him as interim state leader. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro denounced the situation as an attempted coup d’etat and declared the breaking of diplomatic relations with the US. Russia, Belarus, Bolivia, Iran, China, Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Syria and Turkey supported him.