Venezuela defeats new power sabotage in hours

Off Guardian

Gloria La Riva 

The author is currently on the ground in Venezuela

 

This morning at 1:30 a.m., engineers and electrical workers restored Venezuela’s power after a massive cyber sabotage at 4:45 p.m. yesterday shut down 17 of 23 states in a blackout.

This is the third major attempt by the United States and internal counterrevolutionaries to try to destroy the power system, the first being March 7-12 and the second from March 23 to April 4. There have been hundreds of terrorist attacks on the power lines.

This quick recovery by the energy sector — engineers, technicians and soldiers deployed to help in the efforts — is testament to the revolutionary people’s capacity to resist and a higher organizational level with each new challenge.

Each attack has been met with determined resistance and the Maduro government’s counter measures to minimize damage.

Engineer Rafael Argotti, whom Liberation News interviewed during the first blackout on March 9, explained today what is behind the power sabotage.

  “This blackout was simply another electromagnetic attack. From January to July of this year, we have detected more than 76 incursions of U.S. planes specialized in electromagnetic work. The sabotage took place while the Bolivarian revolution is advancing in the international arena. This weekend we held the gathering of 120 countries of the Non-Aligned Movement, which affirmed its recognition of Nicolás Maduro as president of Venezuela.”

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Civilians ‘Not Ready’ for EMP-caused Blackout — But Military IS

Watchdog.org 

The catastrophic effects of an electromagnetic pulse-caused blackout could be preventable, but experts warn the civilian world is still not ready.

Peter Vincent Pry, executive director of the Task Force on National and Homeland Security and director of the U.S. Nuclear Strategy Forum, both congressional advisory boards, said the technology to avoid disaster from electromagnetic pulses exists, and upgrading the nation’s electrical grid is financially viable.


“The problem is not the technology,” Pry said. “We know how to protect against it. It’s not the money, it doesn’t cost that much. The problem is the politics. It always seems to be the politics that gets in the way.”
He said the more officials plan, the lower the estimated cost gets.

“If you do a smart plan — the Congressional EMP Commission estimated that you could protect the whole country for about $2 billion,” Pry told Watchdog.org. “That’s what we give away in foreign aid to Pakistan every year.” 

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