China has offered to help Venezuela fix its failed power grid as looting reportedly broke out in western areas of the country and President Nicolás Maduro continued to claim the US was behind a cyber attack that caused Venezuela’s worst power blackout on record.
With the blackout in its sixth day, water pumps have failed, telecommunications networks have broken down, hospitals have struggled to keep equipment running, food has rotted in the tropical heat and oil exports from Venezuela’s biggest energy terminal have shut down.
Speaking in Beijing, Lu Kang, a spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry, said China had noted reports that the power grid had allegedly failed due to a hacking attack — a claim that government critics scoff at, given the Maduro regime’s record of mismanagement and corruption.