Venezuela halts school, work activities after power cut

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

ANKARA (AA) - The Venezuelan vice president announced suspension of all educational and work activities on Tuesday due to what the country’s government called an "electromagnetic attack" which caused a major power cut.

"Unless something urgently required, we recommend you to stay in your homes," Jorge Rodriguez said in a Twitter post.

Starting from 4.45 p.m. local time (2045 GMT), a new power cut left much of Venezuela without electricity.

"Since the aggressions in March and April this year, the Bolivarian Government has implemented protection and security protocols that allow us to guarantee that we are in the process of reconnecting to restore the electric power service in the shortest possible time," the Venezuelan Presidency said in a statement.

"It's more than 14 hours of national blackout. In 7 states of the country, the service was partially restored and 9 are still without power," Venezuela's opposition leader Juan Guaido said on Twitter.

"It is not an option for Venezuelans to get used to this tragedy," Guaido added.

While the government advised people to stay home, there is a mass street rally set for today by the opposition to move forward the "next stage" of their struggle to gain power.

After a weeklong power cut, which began on March 7, in Venezuela, the country went through another blackout on March 25.

Although the government announced that the cuts were due to cyber and physical sabotage, the opposition claimed that the electricity system collapsed due to the government’s lack of adequate efforts.